Suspect Arrested, Accused Of Beating Elderly Man In Hammer Attack

GIG HARBOR, WA — A 25-year-old man has been arrested, accused of beating an 80-year-old with a hammer during drug-fueled attack Monday.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, the attack happened around 1 a.m. Monday morning. That’s when deputies received a 911 call warning them that an elderly man had been attacked with a hammer at a home on Wright Bliss Road NW near Vaughn.

When deputies arrived, they found the 80-year-old victim with several deep cuts to the head— they say he had wrapped his head with a towel to staunch the bleeding. The victim allegedly told deputies he knew who the suspect was, that he was on drugs, and that he had fled into the woods behind the house following the hammer attack.

The victim was then rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment, while deputies began the search for the escaped suspect.

Deputies then searched the woods and the suspect's home address, but couldn't turn anything up until just before 5 p.m. Monday afternoon. That's when they received a call that appeared unrelated at first, of a suspicious man walking through private property and entering conservation land near 132nd Street NW.

Deputies then began to search the trails between the witness's home and the victim's property, and shortly afterwards found their suspect hiding in the bushes nearby. The suspect, only identified as a 25-year-old man, has been arrested and booked into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of first degree assault.