City Hall Park Hammer Attacker Held Without Bail After Brutalizing Spanish Tourist

Manhattan

A crazed Brooklyn man was ordered held without bail on Tuesday for allegedly trying to kill a Spanish tourist with a hammer in a rant-filled attack near City Hall Park, according to the New York Daily News.

John Yoos, 43, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on attempted murder charges for beating down Hugo Alejandre, of Barcelona, with the claw of a hammer about 3 p.m. Monday.

Alejandre, 31, was eating lunch with his girlfriend on a bench near Murray St. and Broadway when a suit-clad Yoos suddenly approached and bashed him in the head, striking Alejandre near his left eye, authorities said.

Yoos began ranting about President Obama and the Clintons as he savagely attacked Alejandre, sources said. “It’s a complete random act of brutal violence on a total stranger,” said Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Alison Altmann.

“It was a cold-blooded attack on a defenseless unarmed man. It was a heinous act.”

Alejandre’s girlfriend tried, but failed, to fend off the attacker. A group of Good Samaritans were able to pull the bloody hammer from the thug’s hand and hold him down for police, prosecutors said.

Cops soon arrived and cuffed Yoos, who also had a five-inch steak knife in his jacket pocket, prosecutors said. He was later booked on a slew of charges that included attempted murder, assault and weapons possession.

Alejandre was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was treated for a fractured spine and lacerations to his chest and head. He checked out of his room at The Dylan Hotel in midtown and declined to speak to reporters when he left the District Attorney’s office Tuesday.

Yoos — who spent several years abroad in the United Kingdom and Canada — has only a minor criminal record, but neighbors in Crown Heights, Brooklyn said he was known for his violent outbursts.

“Sometimes he screams really loud in the apartment the word ‘n-----,’” said Ezekiel Williams, 25, adding that he was still shocked to hear of the wild attack in lower Manhattan.

“I didn’t know he was that crazy, so I was surprised,” he said. Yoos was arrested in 2008 in Honolulu, Hawaii, for criminal contempt after he failed to pay a fine.

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