SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A man who was arrested by police after severely assaulting an older woman and smashing cars with a baseball bat told officials that he was high on drugs and that the "devil got into his head" during the incidents.
Wesley Abeita, 23, was arrested Tuesday by the Scottsdale Police Department and booked on charges including attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault, vehicle burglary, disorderly conduct and criminal damage.
Court documents revealed Abeita told officers that he had a "bad trip" while he was high on acid and methamphetamine that he got from homeless people in the Glendale camp area he sleeps in.
Police said around 4:30 p.m. Monday, Abeita pulled up to the Gateway Trailhead in the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy and began violently swinging a black metal bat at an elderly woman.
The woman had her car window smashed out and was hit several times causing severe fractures to the left side of her face, two broken bones in her leg and a severe concussion, police said.
Officials said three men tried distracting Abeita while he allegedly attacked the woman which resulted in Abeita hitting the men's cars with the bat and smashing their windows out. Police said Abeita told them his intentions were to get the men to go away because he thought they were going to kidnap him.
The men told police they heard Abeita scream that he was "doing God's work" during the attacks.
The witnesses in the area called police and Abeita fled into the mountain for the night, officials said.
On Tuesday morning, police said Abeita returned to the trailhead and broke into a city vehicle and stole equipment. A city employee recognized Abeita as a suspect from the previous night's incidents and he was apprehended a short time afterward.
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