Confusing hammer attack, stabbing case stumps police before making arrest

MARIETTA, Ga - In Marietta, police saw a confusing case involving a hammer attack, a stabbing and a witness covered in blood. When officers responded, they didn't know who was the victim and who was going to end up going to jail.

It happened at a storage facility on Cobb Parkway in Marietta. 

Police got a call about a man with a hammer banging on doors. The first officers on the scene found a man on the ground bleeding from stab wounds. They initially believed he was the victim. Police said as an officer got closer to him to render aid, the man, identified as Saul Jimenez, tried to fight the officer and grab his gun.

About the same time, more 911 calls came in.  A man with blood on his clothes was seen walking down Cobb Parkway.

"He's covered in blood, walking away from a crime scene, there's another person with stab wounds laying on the ground. Certainly would seem like he was involved. We give commands from a distance, we order him to the ground," said Marietta Police Officer Chuck McPhilamy.

Police said as it turned out, that man did nothing wrong. Investigators said he had blood on him because he tried to intervene when he saw Jimenez, the same guy who had stab wounds, attack another man with a hammer.

"He was completely innocent and did the right thing to break them up," said Officer McPhilamy.

Lamar Howard said it was his brother who was hit with the hammer.

"He goes, I'm going to kill you and comes after my brother," said Howard.

Howard's brother pulled out his pocket knife in self-defense.

Howard said he saw the whole thing, and it was chaos.

"There would have been no way for the cops to tell what was going on, who was the suspect who was the victim, there's a hammer, there's a knife on the ground, there's one guy bleeding, my brothers arm was shattered," said Howard.

Jimenez was treated at the hospital.  He is now in the Cobb County Jail.

Police wanted to share the story to give people an idea of how chaotic a crime scene can be.

"We're running toward the danger, but we don't know what the danger represents, and it's not always clear in the first look who the suspect is and who the victim is," said Officer McPhilamy.

Officer McPhilamy said not all cases are cut and dry and sometimes people have to be patient as investigators put all the pieces together.

"Look at it through our lens and realize not everything is as it seems," said Officer McPhilamy.

Officer McPhilamy said while it was chaotic and confusing, he was proud of the officers who worked together seamlessly and carefully to figure out what happened.