An attempted machete attack took place this past March in a Murfreesboro homeless camp, according to a police report (MPD Incident Report 16-5895, A). That being said, being homeless is not exactly easy.
When homeless, you deal with a wide variety of people with a myriad of problems. Some problems are not exactly big while others are more than the average person could even begin to grasp.
A few people who are on the streets simply lost a job and prior to the job loss, they were living paycheck to paycheck. Others have untreated mental health issues.
Some who have undiagnosed mental illnesses were once living with family that could no longer tolerate the living arraignment. Others on the street were abused as children and never got the proper counseling to learn how to deal with the flashbacks they now face daily. Drugs and alcohol and even prostitution to fund the addictions is not unheard of in many situations.
Now, back to the reported attack involving victim George Brewer… he said that suspect Chad Jones is now on the run after the incident.
According to the initial police report, 34-year Jones allegedly went to the campsite of Brewer and began yelling at him. Evidently, Jones woke up the victim who said he was scared for his safety when Jones was said to have tried attacking him.
The report stated that 43 year old Brewer told Jones that he was calling the police, which is when Jones reportedly picked up a machete that was at the campsite. Brewer says that Jones started swinging the machete at him and he feared for his life. While moving away from Jones, the victim fell into his tent. Police say they observed two cuts on the tent that were alleged to have been caused by the swinging machete.
Brewer told me on Friday (5/13/16) that he was able to grab a hook knife and slice Jones in the middle of the incident. The injuries were likely bad, but not bad enough to keep Jones from fleeing before police arrived.
Jones has a long criminal history that includes charges of driving on a revoked license and vandalism to multiple domestic assault convictions and numerous aggravated assault convictions.
Warrants for aggravated assault and vandalism were obtained for Jones, but he has not been apprehended.