Man Arrested In Hatchet Attack Two People Injured In Assault At Tacoma Apartment

A 25-year-old Tacoma man has been arrested for investigation of first-degree assault after two people were seriously injured with a hatchet.

The man, whose identity has not been released, called officers early Sunday morning to report finding two strangers in his apartment and blood splattered all around, police said.

The man said he had been at a restaurant around 5 p.m. and remembered drinking a few beers, but didn’t remember leaving.

Sometime between 2 and 3 a.m., the man said he woke up in his apartment and noticed blood covering his hands and legs. He also saw two people on the floor but assumed they were sleeping, police said.

The man turned on the lights when he went to shower and saw “blood everywhere,” police said. He left and called 911 from a nearby pay phone.

The victims, Jamie Gibbs, 36, of University Place and Dorothy Hurd, 38, of Tillicum, were taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Both had head wounds and appeared to have been struck with the sharp end of a hatchet, a nursing supervisor said, adding that Gibbs had 13 cuts on his head.

He was listed in serious condition Monday and Hurd was in satisfactory condition.