PERRY, Georgia- – Police are investigating a “bizarre” incident in which a man claiming he was performing a religious ritual kissed a woman’s feet Monday afternoon at the Perry Wal-Mart.

Perry police Capt. Heath Dykes gave the following account of the encounter:

About 5 p.m. in Wal-Mart at 1109 St. Patrick’s Drive, an 80-year-old female shopper stumbled upon a man sitting in the floor of an aisle stocked with curtains.

The woman apologized for stepping on the man’s fingers. The man told her he was participating in a religious ritual and asked for her help.

The woman, now alarmed, complied with the man’s instructions to stand on his hands and then spit. The man began to lick the woman’s feet.

Jesse James, a loss prevention officer for Wal-mart, walked up on the strange scene and recognized the man from a photo from the Americus Wal-Mart, warning about a similar incident there.

James confronted the unidentified man, who repeated that he was performing a religious ritual and then fled.

“It’s crazy … really bizarre,” Dykes said.

The woman was not harmed but “was really embarrassed,” the officer said.

Perry police suspect the same man is responsible for the similar incidents at the Wal-Mart in Americus, Dykes said.

“It was so bizarre that … we’re … trying to find what code section applies,” Dykes said. “We’ve entitled it public indecency at this time but we haven’t had a chance to do the research on whether it would fall under any criminal act. It’s definitely bizarre.”

The Americus police investigator looking into the earlier incident could not be reached immediately for comment.

Store managers on duty at Perry and Americus declined to comment.

Sharon Weber, a Wal-mart spokeswoman, said the retail chain’s policy is not to comment on a case that police are investigating.