Background: News footage of the Whole Foods store in Olathe, Kan., where an elderly woman was attacked (WDAF). Inset: Christopher Brewer (Johnson County Sheriff”s Office).
An unexpected and violent incident unfolded in the parking lot of a Whole Foods in Kansas, where a woman fell victim to an alleged hammer attack.
Authorities arrested 50-year-old Christopher Brewer on Sunday, charging him with aggravated battery for allegedly striking an 85-year-old woman in the head with a hammer. The victim, whose identity remains undisclosed, was transported to a hospital where she underwent surgery for facial fractures. A shopper who was loading groceries into his vehicle at the Olathe Whole Foods parking lot recounted hearing the woman’s cries and witnessing Brewer assaulting her, according to a criminal complaint reviewed by Fox affiliate WDAF in Kansas City, Missouri. More details can be found here.
Officers arrived at the scene around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, finding Brewer still present. Court records indicate that the shopper who intervened heard Brewer make statements such as, “I’m a person too” and “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
While Brewer was taken into custody, first responders attended to the injured woman, who was found with cuts on her skull and nose. A search of Brewer’s vehicle revealed a bag of marijuana and a metal pipe containing marijuana, as reported by the Olathe Reporter.
When questioned by detectives, Brewer allegedly admitted, “My name is Chris, and I hit someone today, but I don’t know more. That’s what I would like to say, and at some point in time could [sic] find out what happened to him because I need to talk about that.”
According to WDAF, the woman was placed in intensive care following her surgery, although no further updates on her condition have been provided. A reporter from the station interviewed Sherill Benson, a neighbor of the victim, who shared that the woman frequently visited the Whole Foods store. Benson remarked, “The day she had been here, she said she had been at the store and was going to go home and have a salad from there.”
Brewer was charged with aggravated battery and booked into the Johnson County Jail. His bond was set at $35,000 after his first court appearance on Monday. He is scheduled to appear in court again on Dec. 11 for a preliminary hearing.
