DULUTH, Minn. — An elderly Duluth man is recovering from serious injuries following a random and violent attack inside a grocery store restroom.
St. Louis County prosecutors have charged Lance Alexander Tolbert with first-degree attempted murder in the incident, which left the 81-year-old victim with a skull fracture, broken hand and multiple lacerations and puncture wounds.
A criminal complaint filed against the 43-year-old Tolbert details the attack, which reportedly took place inside Mount Royal Market on Woodland Ave just before 9 a.m. on May 24. The victim told investigators that he and a friend had gone to the market to do some shopping and that he went to use the restroom. While inside and standing at a urinal, the victim says a man - later identified as Tolbert - ran out of a stall with a hammer and started beating him.
The defendant allegedly struck the victim in the back of his head and in other locations, causing him to fall to the floor. At that point, the 81-year-old told investigators, Tolbert put gloved fingers into his mouth. The two men wrestled, prosecutors say, with the victim eventually gaining control of the hammer. The attack stopped when another patron entered the restroom, and the defendant picked up the hammer and fled.
First responders took the elderly man to a local emergency room, where he was found to have a skull fracture, a broken hand and multiple lacerations described as "defensive wounds." The victim told authorities he had never seen or met his assailant, and that the two had not exchanged words before the attack.
Police were told the attacker was wearing camo clothing with a black hood. Duluth police saw a man matching that description walking away from Mount Royal Market and after taking Tolbert into custody noticed blood on his clothing, face and glasses. They also confiscated a hatchet that was hanging from his belt. The next day investigators located Tolbert's jacket and found a blood-covered hammer in the pocket.
The defendant declined to make a statement about what happened.
BCA evidence technicians will perform tests on the hammer, hatchet, and clothing of both men in an attempt to link Tolbert to the attack.
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