A man accused of stabbing a pair of staff members at an Orlando day labor office Tuesday morning — one of whom shot the machete-wielding man in the arm in self-defense, police said — has been jailed on attempted felony murder and other charges.
Oraine P. Mitchell Grant, 31, also faces counts of aggravated battery with a weapon causing great bodily harm, burglary of a structure with battery, carrying a concealed weapon and resisting an officer without violence. He is being held at the Orange County Jail without bond.
According to an arrest report, police were called to Staff Zone, a labor office on Old Winter Garden Road, about 8:30 a.m. In the parking lot, they encountered both of the victims, a man and a woman, who were wounded and bleeding heavily from their arms.
The woman said the attacker later identified as Mitchell Grant had arrived at the office about 6:30 a.m. looking for work. He left after being told all the jobs for that day had been filled, the report said.
But witnesses said he returned on a bicycle about 8:30 a.m.
He went around a partition separating the day laborers from employees and began a rampage, witnesses said — using a weapon described in a police report as a “large tropical machete,” about 15-to-18 inches long.
The report said Mitchell Grant slashed the female victim in the back of her head and then her arm, prompting her to run screaming into an office. He then attacked the male victim, who was able to draw a concealed handgun from his waistband and fire two shots.
One bullet wounded Mitchell Grant in the forearm, at which point he dropped the machete and took off, police said.
He was soon spotted running along Old Winter Garden Road, with his shirt tied around the wound on his arm, police said. He surrendered after a short pursuit and was taken into custody, the report said.
Mitchell Grant was treated at Orlando Regional Medical Center before being booked into the jail. According to police, he swung the knife so forcefully during the attack that the blade of the machete was bent.
The female victim is expected to have “permanent damage” to her arm and possibly “significant loss of movement” as a result of her injuries, the report said. The prognosis for the second victim was unclear, though investigators noted that both had surgery after the attack.
Police said Mitchell Grant, a Georgia native, is believed to be homeless. Another laborer present at the office Tuesday said they had worked a job together in recent weeks.
jeweiner@orlandosentinel.com