WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah - A 68-year-old man is in critical condition after a man wielding a knife and a hammer attacked him Wednesday.
Officials said 19-year-old Gerardo Enrique Perez allegedly attacked the victim in his yard and the scuffle carried into the man's home on West Cape Vista Way.
The victim after being hit in the head multiple times with the hammer.
Authorities said residents told them Perez was walking up and down the street threatening people.
"He seemed to be on drugs, he was just out of it, wasn't there, and looked like he was ready to hurt someone," resident Shannon Garrett said.
Garrett was in his friend's front yard when he saw the suspect across the street and was the first to call police.
"He looked at us and then pulled out a knife and a hammer and then started coming at us," he said. "We started running back inside and locked the door and armed ourselves with some knives."
Garrett said Perez continued walking up and down West Cape Vista Way.
He was concerned because it was 3:30 p.m. and his friend's little sister was about to get home from school.
"He came at us every time he'd see us, he would come at us, I mean he would be standing completely down the street and he would start moving our way," Garrett said. "All I heard from him was grumbling, like grunting, no verbal whatsoever toward me, just grunts."
According to police, it didn't appear Perez was targeting anyone in particular.
Roxeanne Vainuku, a spokeswoman for West Valley City police, said the victim in this case just happened to be in his yard at the wrong time.
"A family member who was inside the house said they heard a lot of commotion," she said. "They said they looked out the window and saw the suspect attacking their family member. That attack carried in to the house."
Garrett said he saw the attacker leave the home and called his grandpa who lives a few houses down and carries a gun.
"He had drawn his gun told him to stop and the subject took off," Garrett said.
Perez was arrested a short time later in the basement apartment of a house just two blocks away from where the attack took place.
"I won't forget this moment, it's life changing what you see," Garrett said.
According to police, the suspect and victim are not connected.
