EDMONTON – Two teenagers are facing charges in connection to the assault of an 86-year-old man Tuesday morning.
18-year-old David Williams and a 17-year-old, who can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, are facing numerous charge; including, robbery, aggravated assault, and possession of a weapon dangerous to the public.
Williams is facing an additional charge of assaulting a peace officer.
On Tuesday, an elderly man was taken to hospital after his neighbour found him bleeding on his lawn after allegedly being attacked in the area of 120 Avenue and 36 Street.
The neighbour tells Global News the 86-year-old man was in the backyard doing some work and began yelling ‘help me.’
“I initially heard some racket outside, I kind of half heard it, and went out the back door to find out what was going on,” says Pat Knight.
“As soon as I heard the voice I lit off running over to Mike’s yard. I got there, he’s sitting down, bleeding… I tried to tend to him as soon as I could; I called his wife and asked for some clean clothes to cover him, the blood, get pressure on the wounds, and called the police, and basically waited and tended to him until police and ambulance got here.”
“He was bleeding profusely from the head,” Knight recalls, visibly shaken. “He was all covered in blood.”
The elderly man, identified by neighbours as Mike Madarash, told Knight he was attacked by some men who took his wallet.
Emergency crews responded to the home in the Beacon Heights neighbourhood and took the man to hospital. Police say he was in serious condition.
“I’m just shaken here right now,” admits Knight. “It’s a little bit too close to home. This is a fairly quiet neighbourhood. I just hate to see this happen, and I sure hate to see it happen to someone like Mike.”
“At about 10:45 this morning (Tuesday morning), a couple were working out in their backyard, doing some gardening, and at that time three suspects approached them and assaulted the male with what we believe was a blunt object,” says Inspector Joel Whittaker. “The suspects escaped on foot and our members responded to the scene and arrested the three suspects a short distance later.”
Whittaker says the woman was not injured, and the man was taken to hospital but his condition was not known by police.
Police believe some kind of object was used in the attack, but it isn’t clear what type of object.
“Early indications… it was possibly a cleaver, but very early investigation right now. All we can tell you was that it was a blunt object and our victim was struck by it.”
Police have not determined whether this was a random attack.
“That’s the alarming part,” adds Whittaker. “He’s out in his backyard, minding his own business, gardening, and he’s approached by three males. It is alarming, it’s rare, and – as you can see – that’s why we’re here.”
“I think we’re just as shocked as everybody else at this incident.”
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