Rochester, MN Man Charged in Cub Hammer Incident Released Without Bail

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- The Olmsted County Attorney’s Office has filed assault charges against the Rochester man accused of swinging a hammer at Cub Foods Shoppers earlier this month. 

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The criminal complaint says Rochester Police responded to the grocery store on the report of a man running through the store and attacking people with a hammer around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. Upon arrival, police found the subject of the call being restrained by one of the shoppers in the deli area. 

The man holding down the alleged attacker told police that he took 28-year-old Pedro Vasquez to the ground after he swung the hammer at him and missed. While on the ground, the man says Vasquez head-butted him and that he hit Vasquez after the headbutt, the criminal complaint says. 

A police spokesman said witnesses' descriptions of Vasquez’s behavior before the alleged hammer attack indicated he may have been under the influence of drugs. The charges say he went into a back room of the store and returned to the shopping floor with the hammer. 

Vasquez made his first appearance in Olmsted County Court on Friday on charges of felony second-degree assault and misdemeanor fifth-degree assault. He was released without bail but with conditions and is due back in court on July 19.