WASHINGTON — The man accused of attacking U.S. Rep. Angie Craig at her Washington, D.C. apartment last month has been formally charged with assault, according to court documents.
A grand jury indicted 26-year-old Kendrid Khalil Hamlin on March 16 with one count of assaulting a member of Congress — first filed on Feb. 13 — and two counts of assault on a law enforcement officer.
Hamlin was arrested and taken into custody on the day of the incident.
Craig, a Democrat who represents Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District, was reportedly attacked in the elevator of her apartment building just after 7 a.m. on Feb. 9. A statement from her office in the hours following the attack said Craig "defended herself" and "suffered bruising," but did not come away with any serious injuries. Days later, Craig shared her version of events with KARE 11.
"I came down to get my coffee from the lobby of the apartment building I live in Washington when I'm there and there was someone there who was acting erratically in the lobby. Immediately I got my coffee and got back in the elevator as fast as I could," Craig described. "I didn't realize at first that he had followed me into the elevator. He jumped down on the elevator floor and started doing pushups. I immediately stopped our progress because I wanted to get him to get out of the elevator. I asked him sternly to get out of the elevator and he became very agitated at that point."
Craig went on to say it wasn't until her accused attacker refused to let her out of the elevator and "indicated that I needed to take him to my apartment" that she knew she had to fight back.
"I don't know that I had time to be scared. When he demanded to go to my apartment all I knew is there is no way in hell that is going to happen," Rep. Craig said. "He grabbed my neck. He grabbed me from behind and one point, tried to pull me away again from the buttons, from my collarbone ... I had a cup of hot coffee in my hand because that is why I was in the lobby to begin with and I reached over, poured the hot coffee on him as he was attempting to pull me back away from the buttons."
When she was finally able to escape the elevator, she said she first made a call to 911, followed by a call to her wife.
"She was just sobbing, I thought someone had died," her wife, Cheryl Greene recalled. "I didn't know what was happening."
Craig returned to the House floor for a vote later that day.
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11's newscasts. You'll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
- Add KARE 11+ on Roku here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Roku Channel Store.
- Add KARE 11+ on Fire TV here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Amazon App Store.
- Learn more about KARE 11+ here.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist: