Mike mandry
ArboristSite Guru
Read this in the paper today & had to pass it on......
Homeless man charged in chain saw attack
By Shane Graber
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
01/20/2008
A homeless man who police believe used a chain saw and a knife to attack four training center employees in Callaway County on Saturday afternoon was charged Sunday with four counts of first-degree assault and four counts of armed criminal action.
Matthew Watkins, 28, of St. Clair, was being held in the Callaway County Jail on a $600,000 bond, Sheriff Dennis Crane said.
Watkins had been staying for about a week at the Rev. Larry Rice’s Mid-American Care Center, a training center in New Bloomfield and a part of Rice’s New Life Evangelistic Center, which is based in St. Louis. The Mid-American center also provides overnight accommodations.
Employees had been preparing for an anniversary dinner that night when the man, who had been complaining about problems with his mother, got a chain saw from a workshop and began threatening people, Rice said.
Deputies were called to the scene at about 2 p.m. The sheriff said a knife also was used, but it was unclear when.
Two employees were injured by the chain saw, and two by a knife, Rice said. When deputies arrived, Watkins surrendered his chain saw and was arrested without incident, the sheriff said.
The dinner was moved across the street. A prayer service was added to the program, Rice said.
Two of the four employees who were injured went to an area hospital. Both were expected to recover, Rice and Crane said.
Homeless man charged in chain saw attack
By Shane Graber
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
01/20/2008
A homeless man who police believe used a chain saw and a knife to attack four training center employees in Callaway County on Saturday afternoon was charged Sunday with four counts of first-degree assault and four counts of armed criminal action.
Matthew Watkins, 28, of St. Clair, was being held in the Callaway County Jail on a $600,000 bond, Sheriff Dennis Crane said.
Watkins had been staying for about a week at the Rev. Larry Rice’s Mid-American Care Center, a training center in New Bloomfield and a part of Rice’s New Life Evangelistic Center, which is based in St. Louis. The Mid-American center also provides overnight accommodations.
Employees had been preparing for an anniversary dinner that night when the man, who had been complaining about problems with his mother, got a chain saw from a workshop and began threatening people, Rice said.
Deputies were called to the scene at about 2 p.m. The sheriff said a knife also was used, but it was unclear when.
Two employees were injured by the chain saw, and two by a knife, Rice said. When deputies arrived, Watkins surrendered his chain saw and was arrested without incident, the sheriff said.
The dinner was moved across the street. A prayer service was added to the program, Rice said.
Two of the four employees who were injured went to an area hospital. Both were expected to recover, Rice and Crane said.
