The defendant has not entered a plea to charges arising from an alleged attack on five people in Simi Valley.
VENTURA, Calif. — The prosecution of a Simi Valley man accused of strangling a woman inside a Target store has been placed on hold while a court considers whether he is mentally competent to understand the case and assist in his defense.
Rejean Morgan Tabor, 35, appeared before Ventura County Superior Court Judge Ferdinand Inumerable on June 22, five days after police arrested him inside the Tierra Rejada Road store. His attorney declared a doubt about his competency, prompting the judge to suspend the ordinary criminal proceedings before Tabor entered a plea. He remained jailed in lieu of $750,000 bail, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.
The pause puts a legal question about Tabor’s present condition ahead of decisions on the attempted-murder and misdemeanor charges. California courts distinguish competency from guilt and from a possible insanity defense. A competency proceeding asks whether a defendant can understand what is happening in court and rationally help an attorney prepare a defense. It does not decide whether the prosecution’s allegations are true or determine the defendant’s mental state during the alleged crime.
Under California Rule of Court 4.130, a judge must suspend a criminal case and begin competency proceedings when substantial evidence creates a reasonable doubt that a defendant, because of a mental disorder or developmental disability, can understand the proceedings or rationally assist counsel. The court may appoint an expert to evaluate the defendant. The expert’s work can include interviews, a review of records and an assessment of whether the defendant meets the state’s legal standard.
California’s evaluation rule calls for a detailed analysis of the defendant’s ability to understand the criminal process and work with a lawyer. In a felony case, the evaluator may also address whether the person is likely to attain competency and whether treatment could help restore that ability. The rules are procedural safeguards: They are intended to ensure that a person does not face prosecution while unable to participate meaningfully in the defense.
The legal pause followed an alleged attack that prosecutors say began with no warning shortly before 6 p.m. June 17. Tabor entered the Target at 51 Tierra Rejada Road and approached a female customer from behind while she was at a checkout counter, according to police and the district attorney’s office. Investigators said the two were strangers. No motive has been publicly identified.
Prosecutors allege that Tabor placed his hands around the woman’s neck while covering her nose and mouth. Shoppers nearby saw the struggle and moved toward them. One woman trying to pull Tabor away was pushed to the floor, according to the district attorney’s account. Another shopper was allegedly bitten, hit and scratched while helping the first victim get free. The woman escaped from Tabor’s grasp, but the confrontation did not end, authorities said. He allegedly threw a glass bottle at a Target loss-prevention employee and attacked a 16-year-old customer from behind. Prosecutors say those encounters account for the charges involving four people in addition to the woman at the checkout counter.
Employees began evacuating the store as police responded. Officers entered the building and searched for the suspect while customers were directed outside. Police said they found Tabor in the grocery section, where he had begun throwing products. Officers arrested him there without further incident. Authorities have not reported that a weapon was used in the initial attack. The woman who was first attacked was taken to a hospital by relatives and listed in stable condition, police said. Several other people, including the minor, were treated for injuries described as minor and released at the scene. Officials have not publicly named the woman or provided an updated description of her recovery. The other alleged victims have largely remained unidentified as well.
Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced that Tabor had been charged with felony willful, deliberate and premeditated attempted murder. The office also filed two misdemeanor counts of battery, a misdemeanor assault count and a misdemeanor child-abuse count alleging that a minor was injured. The complaint and the prosecution’s statements contain allegations, not findings of guilt.
The district attorney’s release included a charge summary that appeared to list two attempted-murder counts, while the written announcement described one felony attempted-murder charge connected to the first woman. Subsequent local news reports generally described one attempted-murder count. Without the complete filed complaint available in the sources reviewed, this report relies on the district attorney’s narrative description and notes that the exact charging document controls.
No plea was taken at Tabor’s first appearance. That means he has not formally answered the allegations in court. No public defense account explaining or disputing the alleged conduct was available. The court kept a criminal protective order in effect for one of the alleged victims and ordered Tabor returned to the custody of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. The judge scheduled a competency hearing for July 16. Publicly available reports reviewed through July 19 did not state what happened at that hearing or whether it was postponed. They also did not disclose whether an evaluator had issued a report. Because competency reports can contain private medical information and may be treated as confidential, not every detail of that process necessarily becomes public.
If a court finds a defendant competent, the ordinary criminal case can resume, allowing arraignment, plea proceedings and later hearings to go forward. If the defendant is found incompetent, the prosecution remains suspended while the court follows state procedures that can include treatment intended to restore competency. No conclusion about either path should be drawn until the court issues an order.
The competency issue also limits how quickly the attempted-murder case can move. Evidence about the store attack, the reliability of witness accounts and the elements of the charges are generally addressed in the criminal proceeding. Those matters do not replace the threshold question of whether Tabor can presently understand and participate in that proceeding.
Prosecutors said the June 17 incident occurred less than 24 hours after Tabor was released from custody on mandatory supervision after completing sentencing in two other Ventura County cases. The Simi Valley Acorn, citing local jail records, reported that his release was approximately two days earlier. The sources agree that the interval between his release and the new arrest was brief, although they used different time descriptions.
The Acorn reported that one recent case arose from a March 27 incident and resulted in guilty pleas involving resistance to an officer, a felony committed while on bail and lewd conduct. Tabor received a six-month jail sentence. The newspaper also identified convictions in other cases involving attempted burglary, attempted aggravated trespass, resisting arrest, shoplifting and possession offenses. Those records are legally separate from the allegations now before the court. A recent criminal history may affect questions such as bail or later sentencing if there is a conviction, but it is not proof that the Target accusations are true. The prosecution must establish every element of each current charge. Tabor retains the presumption of innocence unless and until guilt is proven through a plea or court verdict.
The attempted-murder allegation carries an additional claim that the act was willful, deliberate and premeditated. Prosecutors have not publicly detailed all the evidence they believe supports that allegation. Their account describes an approach from behind and an effort to obstruct the woman’s breathing, but a court will determine what evidence is admissible and whether it proves the charged mental state.
The public record also leaves several factual questions unanswered. Authorities have not released the full Target surveillance footage, all witness statements, police body-camera recordings or a detailed timeline measured in minutes. They have not explained why they believe the attack occurred, whether Tabor said anything during it or whether investigators found evidence connecting him to the first victim. Police have said only that the two did not know each other.
Deputy District Attorney Sean Brunton of the General Trials Unit is handling the prosecution. The investigation was described as continuing after the arrest, and police sought information from people who witnessed the disturbance. As of July 19, the criminal charges remained unresolved, no plea had been reported and no authoritative source reviewed for this article had published the result of the scheduled competency hearing.
Author note: Last updated July 19, 2026.