Man with ax at Rochester Hills 7-Eleven hospitalized for mental evaluation

A 24-year-old man was hospitalized for a mental evaluation after wielding an ax Sunday at a 7-Eleven in Rochester Hills, Oakland County Sheriff's officials said.

A worker at the store in the 2600 block of South Rochester told deputies the man had walked in with the tool, "dropped it, walked behind the counter, and confronted the clerk," investigators said in a statement.               

The man "took the clerk’s glasses off, threw them, and began staring at his face very closely," according to the release. While he walked out to open a bag of chips and eat them, the clerk kicked the ax under a shelf and called 911, sheriff's officials said.

Deputies found the man standing inside the store with his back leaning on the front door. When they tried to talk with him, he didn't respond and stared straight ahead, investigators reported.

The Rochester Hills resident was taken into custody. His mother arrived on the scene and told deputies her son is a paranoid schizophrenic and had not taken medication for months, the sheriff's office said.

Deputies transported the man to Beaumont Hospital in Troy. Other details on his condition were not released Monday.