Crime Time

Police: Man shoots co-worker with nail gun 20 times

When you think about it, a home improvement store has plenty of things that can be used as a weapon.

And, police in Grand Junction, Colo., say a man there did a pretty good job of finding and using some them against a co-worker at a home-improvement store.

Jacob Bertrand, 27, was arrested after police say he sprayed a co-worker with flammable lacquer thinner, threw a garbage can at him and then shot him up to 20 times with a nail gun, police say.

He's been charged with menacing, reckless endangerment and second-degree assault, police say. Much of the attack was captured on surveillance video, police say.

-- Lance Murray

Teen arrested in videotaped beating of bus driver

On May 16, Crime Time reported on the beating of a Milwaukee bus driver by a masked assailant that was captured on surveillance video.

Well, now the attacker has been captured as well. Police say that a 17-year-old boy has been arrested and has admitted beating the driver as he drove along a busy street in Milwaukee.

One of the big questions has been why did the unprovoked attack happen?

Police say the teen told them that he attacked the driver in retaliation for having been thrown off another bus by a different driver for having a fake pass.

-- Lance Murray

Woman rescued after attacker tosses her in abandoned well

A 63-year-old Gun Barrel City woman is thankful today after she was rescued from a 20-foot-deep abandoned well 16-hours after an attacker tossed her in there.

"God let me know with this that miracles do happen," Shirley Shafer told The Tyler Morning Telegraph.

Shafer was found by her grandson who was a member of a search party looking for the woman. Family members became concerned when they couldn't find her. When they checked her cell phone they found a message from Seagoville police that they had arrested someone for reckless driving in a car registered to her.

That man,  Joshua James Cannon, 18, of the Gun Barrel City area, was in custody Wednesday, according to the Henderson County sheriff's department.

Shafer was treated for a broken nose, bruises and dehydration. She told the Temple paper that the episode began early Friday morning when she had arrived home just after midnight and answered a knock at the door.

-- Lance Murray

Video shows bus driver being pummeled by attacker

Video cameras are everywhere it seems capturing interesting and often frightful incidents.

In that second category, here's a video from a Milwaukee, Wis., transit bus showing the bus driver being attacked by a masked man in red. Amazingly, the driver keeps driving throughout the assault before the bus crashes into a tree.

The video report comes from Fox Channel 6 in Milwaukee. Just click on the player to watch.

-- Lance Murray

HIV-positive man gets 35 years for spitting on cop

Saying that he used his saliva as a deadly weapon, a 42-year-old HIV-positive Dallas man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for spitting in the eye and open mouth of a Dallas police officer.

Willie Campbell was sentenced Wednesday and will have to serve half of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

According to testimony from officer Dan Waller, Campbell began resisting and kicking inside a police car as he was being arrested in 2006 for public intoxication.

"He turns and spits," Waller said. "He hits me in the eye and mouth. Then he told me he has AIDS. I immediately began looking for something to flush my eyes with."

-- Lance Murray

It's Darth Vader vs. the Jedis in a battle royale

A long time ago in a courtroom far, far away, Darth Vader was given a suspended two-year sentence for assault.

OK, it was Tuesday in Holyhead, Wales, and it really wasn't Darth Vader. It was Arwel Wynne Hughes, 27, who had used a black garbage bag for a cape in March when he attacked the founders of Britain's first Jedi Church.

No light saber for Hughes, though. Prosecutors said that Hughes attacked Jedi church founder Barney Jones — a.k.a. Master Jonba Hehol — with a metal crutch. He bonked him on the head. Hughes also hit Jones' cousin, Michael Jones — or Master Mormi Hehol — bruising the 18-yer-old's thigh.

The incident was recorded on a video camera -- why does this not surprise me? -- that the Joneses had set up to film themselves in a light saber battle. Watch the video here.

"Darth Vader! Jedis!" Hughes could be heard shouting as he approached the cousins.

And, no the force obviously wasn't with Hughes. He'd drunk most of a 2 1/2-gallon box of wine before heading to church, prosecutors said. You can see the church's Web page here.

-- Lance Murray

Man accused of assaulting elderly relative

Johnson County sheriff’s deputies arrested a Weatherford man early Wednesday morning who was wanted on two felony warrants of injury to an elderly family member and interfering with an emergency call.

Randy White was arrested near Burleson while on his way to a friend’s home, said Weatherford police Detective Wendy Field.

White was transferred to the Parker County jail where he remains on $125,000 bond, Field said. White is accused of assaulting an elderly relative and the person’s care giver, Field said.

The relative suffered bruises and a deep laceration to the back of the head, Field said.

White is also accused of interfering with an emergency call by taking the care giver’s cell phone so that she could not call police. The care giver went to a neighbor’s home to call police.

-- Elizabeth Campbell

Attorney says angry dad stabbed the wrong kid

Mistaken identity.

That's the assertion of an attorney for a teenager stabbed three times Monday at Wunsche High School in Spring, Texas, by the father of a girl who allegedly was sexually assaulted at a party. According to police, the man thought the boy had witnessed the assault on his daughter.

But attorney Fernando Valdes says his client wasn't even at the party, having spent the weekend with his parents.

"He was not at any party at all," Valdes said. "This kid was student of the month last month. He's not some thug that runs around gang banging. He hangs around computer guys. He's a techie, a good guy getting a bad rap."

The father has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The boy is still in the hospital.

-- Lance Murray

Man accused of caging new wife and shooting at her

I've heard of a rocky start to a marriage before, but never something like this.

A Canton, Ohio, man has been ordered held under a $5 million bond,  accused of caging and shooting at his new bride. They had been married less than a week, officials said.

Police say that Matthew George, 28, handcuffed his wife, Mary Swihart, and put her in 4-foot-square dog cage. Police say he also fired gunshots at her feet while their 15-month-old child was in an adjoining room.

Here are the charges that George faces: felonious assault, abduction, and domestic violence.

-- Lance Murray

Teens in videotaped beating could face life in prison

The eight Florida teens involved in the videotaped beating of another teen could get life terms in prison, CNN is reporting. Among the charges they face is kidnapping, a first-degree felony.

Nobody involved in the case is talking, either, because the judge has invoked a gag order.

The 16-year-old Lakeland, Fla., girl who was beaten still has blurred vision, hearing loss, and a swollen face, her mother told CNN.

You can read CNN's report here.

-- Lance Murray