MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) – A man has been arrested after he allegedly broke into a Miami Beach apartment while wielding a hammer and threatening two tourists.
The attack happened while Francisco Rosasco, one of the tourists, was cooking breakfast, Saturday morning.
Fabian Arevalo, the other family member, returned to the apartment after he made a phone call. Arevalo said he did not know that Jeremy Rivers, the alleged attacker, was following him while holding a hammer.
Rivers then started threatening the two tourists.
“He raised the hammer high in to the air as he yelled at us,” Rosasco said.
The two men believe Rivers got angrier because they did not speak English, so they could not understand each other.
That is when, Rosasco said, Rivers demanded that he tie up Arevalo, which he did while fearing for his life.
Rosasco then said Rivers hit him with the hammer.
“Then, he grabbed a television cable and started choking me,” he said.
Rosasco soon lost consciousness, and Arevalo fought back against the attacker.
“I grabbed the hammer he had left on the table, and with that same hammer, I hit him on the head,” Arevalo said.
Arevalo then broke some of the apartment’s windows and yelled loudly to warn anyone that may have been nearby that they were in danger.
“At that moment, he attacked me,” Arevalo said. “He tried to grab the hammer out of my hands to try to hit me with it, so I grabbed it as tightly as possible, and the first thing he grabs is a metal table and hit me with it.”
He said Rivers kept hitting him, and at that time, Rosasco woke up, ran outside and yelled for help. The two men believe that spooked Rivers because he left, and they called 911.
“I walk outside, and he is calmly walking down the hallway,” Arevalo said. “We told ourselves, ‘This is very strange.’”
Rivers was later arrested and appeared in bond court. He faces several charges, including felony attempted murder, related to the attack.
Miami Beach Police detectives said they issued Rivers a trespass warning for squatting at a vacant apartment in the same building a few days before the attack.
Rivers remains behind bars without bond.
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