Man charged with attempted homicide after hitting 13-year-old mowing lawn on head with hammer

 

RICHFIELD, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Brian Olson has been charged with attempted first degree homicide after seriously injuring a teenage boy while he was mowing his lawn.

On August 14, Washington County Sheriff's Department responded to a call after a 13-year-old was bleeding from the head and unconscious. The boy was found by his father and was still sitting on the riding lawn mower. The dad heard a loud scream and ran outside to find his son was attacked and their neighbor, Brian Olson, was leaving in an orange Chevy. The dad told authorities that three to four weeks earlier Olson was walking up to their lawn but then his mom yelled at him to come back. The dad also said many people in the neighborhood feared Olson.

According to the criminal complaint, the boy suffered blunt force trauma to his head which caused multiple skull fractures including one about 33 millimeters in size and consistent with that of the head of a hammer.

Medical personnel say the boy suffered two large skull fractures indicating he was hit with the hammer twice. Doctors had to remove a section of the boy's skull to alleviate pressure to the brain. As of August 30, the boy is still sedated and doctors say that if he does recover the injuries will likely have long lasting effects.

When detectives searched Olson's house they found blood in a garbage can in the garage. Brian Olson was not there and his mother said she had not seen him since the day of the incident. Olson's mother said he is a paranoid schizophrenic and often thinks people are watching him and want to hurt him.

CBS 58 spoke with Olson's mother. She believes Olson didn't know what he was doing, but right now she says she's focusing on praying for the victim and his family.

Two days after the incident, on August 16, Deputies found Olson's orange Chevy in a parking lot at Holy Hill in Erin. Olson was wearing a dark hoodie, sunglasses and a baseball hat. Deputies said that Olson said, "Just shoot me" as he went into his trunk to grab a plastic bag with a bloody hammer in it. 

After being repeatedly told to drop the hammer and surrender, Olson just keep telling the officials to shoot him. Eventually, officers used three Tasers to subdue Olson who was then arrested. 

Olson was then taken to the hospital for a shoulder injury sustained after he fell while being Tased. Olson told the doctor, "I did something bad. I hope I never get out of jail. The cops are right. I got problems."

While being interview by police Brian Olson confessed to hitting the boy on the head with a hammer. He admitted he surprise-attacked the boy, and didn't even know who was on the mower until after they were injured. Olson also gave police many reasons why he did it. At one point he didn't know what he did wrong. He told detectives he thought hurting his neighbor was all a dream. He also mentioned he thought the neighbor was taunting him. In other instances, he said he thought hurting someone else would get him killed... and :he wanted to die."