RCMP are investigating two unrelated violent assaults that occurred in Penticton over the weekend that put victims in the hospital.
On Saturday, two men were attacked with a hammer that a passerby grabbed out of their garage. At 12:20 a.m. Mounties responded to a call in the alley behind the 500 block of Nelson Avenue where they found a 50-year-old male bleeding from a neck wound and a 53-year-old male seated on the floor of the garage.
RCMP said the two men had been sitting in the garage, which backs onto the alley, with the door up when an unknown Native male and Native female approached them. The victims told RCMP that the man asked for and was given a cigarette, but then suddenly turned violent, grabbing a hammer from a nearby work bench in the garage and striking the 53-year-old man in the stomach.
“The 50-year-old male attempted to intervene and the native male struck the 50-year-old several times in the neck and head with the hammer,” said Sgt. Rick Dellebuur. “The 53-year-old male grabbed the Native male and took him to the ground at which time the Native female began choking the 53-year-old male until he was unconscious. The two suspects then fled on foot.”
The man struck in the neck and head with the hammer was transported by ambulance to Penticton hospital then to Kelowna hospital for surgery. The last report received by RCMP was that the surgery was successful and the male was recovering and being monitored in Kelowna hospital. The other man did not require medical attention.
The man suspected of the attack is described as five-foot-11, 180 pounds, with dark, straight, shoulder-length hair, while the female is described as large with a lighter complexion than the male and possibly wearing a white T-shirt.
At 6 p.m. on Friday RCMP responded to a stabbing in the 500 block of Westminster Avenue. Dellebuur said three males were walking in the area when they were approached by another male known to them.
“This known male and one of the three males walked ahead of the others where they got into what first appeared to be a fist fight until the one male went down and this known male quickly departed. The male that went down, a 19-year-old Vernon resident, suffered a laceration to his back,” said Dellebuur.
RCMP patrolled the area and located a male matching the description of the assailant just 10 minutes later. The male, a 28-year-old Penticton resident, was held for a court appearance on Monday. Charges of aggravated assault have been recommended. The victim was treated at Penticton hospital and released.