A man is jailed, and two people are recovering from injuries in the second hatchet attack at a Tucson bus stop in the past few weeks.
The latest incident took place about 3 p.m. on Monday at a bus stop near the intersection of North Sabino Canyon and East Tanque Verde roads.
A woman who was looking at her phone as she exited the bus was accused by a man at the stop of taking his photo.
Witnesses told police Frank Lopez, 42, was yelling and talking to himself before he confronted the woman and then grabbed at her phone, a complaint filed in Pima County Justice Court says.
Two men intervened.
During a struggle, a hatchet that one of the men was carrying in his waistband fell on the ground. Lopez grabbed the hatchet and struck the man in the head, opening a flap of skin, the complaint says.
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The girlfriend of the wounded man tried to help, but she too was struck with the hatchet by Lopez, the complaint says. She suffered a large gash on her arm.
Lopez, who was struck in the head with a skateboard by someone trying to break up the fight, ran into the desert but was quickly detained, the court filing says.
The two people struck with the hatchet were taken to the hospital.
Lopez was arrested on suspicion of two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of aggravated assault with serious physical injury. He remains in the Pima County jail on a $1 million bond.
This is the second recent hatchet attack at a Tucson bus stop.
About 10 a.m. April 5, Jake Couch, 32, and his wife, Kristen, were at a bus stop downtown on East Broadway near South Sixth Avenue when they were confronted by a passerby.
Daniel Michael, 25, then pulled a hatchet from inside his jacket and struck Couch in the neck, according to police and court records.
Couch died at a hospital about two weeks later.
Michael was eventually linked to the attack and remains jailed.
