For many people, Saturday is laundry day. They work during the week, and on weekends, they catch up on chores. That can mean lots of business for laundromats. Phil Hernandez owns Super Wash N Dry in Pomona, California. When he and his son went to work on January 17, 2026, they expected the typical weekend rush. What they didn’t anticipate was a man showing up at the laundromat with a machete and threatening to kill people. The business’ surveillance camera caught the interaction, and police hope someone can help them identify their suspect.
ABC 7 shared footage from the laundromat, and it really is terrifying. An unknown man walked into the businesses carrying a large machete. Hernandez told the outlet that when the man saw his son in a San Francisco 49ers jersey, he began to chase him. The man then left the building but returned a short time later. This time, Hernandez was ready.
He closed the door in the man’s face. The man continued to scream and shattered the glass with the knife.
“He’s telling me to get my red hat off, the same way he was telling my son, and he breaks the window – luckily I was able to move out of the way of the machete coming through the glass, and after a little back and forth, he went away,” Hernandez recalled to ABC 7. “At the end of the day, I think the important thing for me was keeping everyone in the building safe, my customers and my son.”
By the time police arrived, the suspect had left. Pomona police hope that sharing surveillance video will encourage someone to identify the man.
Video of the incident shocked viewers on social media. Many could tell Hernandez wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
“i can for a fact tell you that the business owner dad would of rocked that dude! i can tell by his ears,” someone commented in an Instagram post.
Others felt relief knowing no one was hurt.
“Glad you and your son are OK to talk about this and people need to be arrested,” a viewer shared.
The event seemingly erupted over a difference of option that didn’t make sense to people.
“Imagine grown a– men feeling uneasy just because another person is wearing another teams jersey. This is the type of ppl the goverment should be rounding up,” someone wrote. “Im a sports fan but will never understand growns adults taking that too serious. Even worse, they are [spectators] not even ppl actually playing the game.”
The Hernandez family just wanted to work and not be threatened with death while at their laundromat. Is that too much to ask?
