Attempted murder...with a hammer...on the wrong guy

An Iowa City man is facing a charge of attempted murder after he was discovered assaulting another man with a hammer earlier this evening. He was arrested for the attack only to release the information that he had been attacking the wrong man.



According to kcrg.com, police responded to a call at just before 6 a.m. of a fight in progress. When police arrived on the scene, they discovered a man holding a hammer over the fallen, bleeding body of another man.

Police ordered the man with the hammer to the ground and arrested him. The victim that had been attacked with the hammer was taken to Iowa City Hospitals and Clinics for treatment for the injuries he sustained in the attack.

The investigation discovered that attacker, 61-year-old Richard John Hoyt, approached the victim while he was sleeping on a bench in downtown Iowa City and began to beat him with a hammer until he was bleeding.

According to Hoyt, he believed the man he attacked was someone he had gotten into a previous argument with, but discovered that the man he attacked was in fact not him at all. He had been in fact attacking the wrong man.

The victim's injuries have been deemed not life threatening, and he remains in the Iowa City Hospitals and Clinics for treatment.

Hoyt is facing a charge of attempted murder for the attack on the man with the hammer. Additional charges may be pending. He remains lodged in the Johnson County Jail.
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