OTTUMWA —
An altercation between two people Sunday night led to four victims suffering from hatchet wounds and an attempted murder charge.
Charles Julian Jason Zwer, 26, was charged with attempted murder after Ottumwa Police responded to a disturbance at 219 N. Marion St., Zwer’s address, Sunday night.
“There appeared to be an altercation between two people; one grabbed a hatchet out of a closet and started attacking that person with it,” said Ottumwa Police Chief Jim Clark. “Others tried to intervene and were struck with the hatchet, also.”
Ottumwa Police originally reported three people were found who had been struck with a hatchet. One refused treatment, the second is being treated at Ottumwa Regional Health Center with moderate injuries and the third was life-flighted to University Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City in critical condition.
Clark said Monday morning the victim in Iowa City is now in critical but stable condition.
“There appears to be two others who refused treatment,” Clark said. “We originally said three [total victims], then were told [Monday] morning of another person we’re looking for to talk that was struck in the arm.”
The names of the victims have not been released.
Zwer was taken into custody a short distance from the scene and is being held in the Wapello County Jail on $25,000 bond. Clark said willful injury charges will likely be filed, but he wasn’t sure when.
Online court records don’t yet list the case.
Zwer is no stranger to crime.
In February 2011, Zwer left Ching Dow Restaurant without paying for his meal. When an employee tried to stop him, Zwer displayed a weapon and fled. Police arrested him on Appanoose Street following a brief foot chase and found a pair of brass knuckles in his possession.
Zwer was originally charged with first-degree robbery, a Class B felony, but received a suspended sentence after reaching a plea bargain.
In September, he also reached a plea bargain and suspended sentence on a Mahaska County burglary charge.
Other prior charges include trespassing, probation violation, criminal mischief and assault with intent to inflict serious injury in Mahaska and Wapello counties.
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Charles Julian Jason Zwer was charged with attempted murder after police responded to a disturbance at 219 N. Marion St., the right side of the building pictured, Sunday night. Chelsea Davis/The Courier
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Charles Julian Jason Zwer Jail Photo.jpg
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July 24, 2012
Ottumwan charged with attempted murder
Out of four hatchet victims, one in critical but stable condition
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