An elderly Fresno man using a walker allegedly turned the tables on a younger attacker armed with a wrench Thursday morning, pulling a knife from his mobility aid and stabbing the suspect after being hit multiple times, police said.
The confrontation happened just before 9 a.m. on San Ramon Avenue near 4th Street, KFSN-TV reported.
Officers described the clash as beginning when a 45-year-old man with a wrench came up to the 65-year-old walker user.
The attack allegedly escalated into repeated wrench blows before the older man turned his walker into a shield.
The victim told police the man appeared erratic and possibly impaired before the blows landed on his hands, Fresno Police Sgt. Diana Trueba Vega told the Fresno Bee.
The 65-year-old allegedly responded by taking a knife out of the walker and stabbing the suspect in the arm and chest, KFSN reported.
The victim later defended the idea of fighting back. “Self defense. I have a small custom-made machete. One can protect oneself by any means — fist, [knife], gun.”
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The injured suspect fled before officers caught up with him, authorities told KFSN.
Police told the Bee the suspect was stable while receiving treatment at Community Regional Medical Center.
Police said the suspect would be booked into Fresno County Jail after medical clearance on an assault charge and an outstanding warrant.
Police told KFSN the elderly man had acted in self-defense.
In Seattle, another elderly man was left bleeding on the sidewalk after a brutal April attack that police later released to the public on surveillance video.
Surveillance video showed two males laughing moments before one allegedly hit the 77-year-old from behind. The blow appeared to knock the victim to the sidewalk.
In an account from prosecuting attorney Ryan D. Turner, one attacker appeared to fake a kick after the victim fell.
The attackers allegedly walked away as the injured man remained on the pavement.
Officers later found him suffering from a head injury, a broken arm and a broken knee.
Eyewitness information eventually led investigators to 29-year-old Ahmed Abdullahi Osman.
After a second-degree assault charge, Osman was released, then became the subject of a $200,000 King County Superior Court warrant.
Public tips after the video release led police to the second suspect, 27-year-old Jessean Tyrell Elion.
Elion was taken into custody Monday and booked into King County Jail. His bail was set at $100,000 for second-degree assault.
“The allegations of an attack on a stranger is very serious,” a judge said about the incident.
Police said the second alleged attacker became known only after investigators reviewed the surveillance footage.
Casey McNerthney of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office credited the video with helping police make the second arrest.
“It’s absolutely helpful, it’s so helpful when you have that because jurors now expect that, and even when you have great witnesses, there’s always the question if you don’t have video or why isn’t there video,” McNerthney said.
“When you have cameras like that you see higher rates of referrals to prosecutors and often times higher conviction rates,” he added.
KING also noted the political wrinkle: Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, a democratic socialist, has criticized the surveillance system that recorded the assault.
Redmond Police credited their Real-Time Information Center with aiding the suspect identifications.
Earlier this month in Glendale, Arizona, prosecutors said an elderly woman was killed during a purse-snatching attack after a suspect ran her over in front of her husband.
Ali Hcaimi, 23, allegedly targeted elderly people in robberies before the fatal Saturday incident near 59th Avenue.
Near the couple’s 59th Avenue home, prosecutors said, Hcaimi allegedly moved in, interacted with the woman and grabbed her purse.
The struggle over the purse allegedly ended when Hcaimi drove over her. She later died after being transported to a hospital.
In court, a prosecutor described the attack as especially gruesome.
“He ran over the elderly female victim in front of her husband, who had to witness this event,” said a prosecutor in court. “He ran her over from head to toe. There were tire marks on her head.”
Prosecutors also tied Hcaimi to another elderly victim robbed five days before the deadly attack.
That earlier victim had withdrawn $5,000 from a bank before allegedly being followed home.
Her purse, containing the money and her medications, was later recovered after being discarded.
“He had an MO here where he was preying upon elderly victims who really cannot defend themselves adequately against him,” said a prosecutor.
At Maricopa County Superior Court, Hcaimi began in English, then asked for an Arabic interpreter.
Through the interpreter, he claimed detention in a closed room or place would aggravate a mental or psychological issue.
“Perhaps maybe the best option is to put me, uh, if possible, to be held in custody somehow at home, my mother’s home or something,” he said through the interpreter. “I can be put on a leg on my belt on my feet or something, and I can promise that I won’t leave home at all.”
The home-custody request was denied, and the judge imposed a $1.25 million cash-only bond with additional release restrictions.
Hcaimi faces felony first-degree murder, a felony robbery charge in the fatal case and another felony robbery charge in the earlier case.
