Police: Man may have targeted Asians in fatal hammer attack

Source: Associated Press

Michael R. Sisak, Associated Press
Updated 5:56 pm CST, Thursday, January 24, 2019

NEW YORK (AP) — A fatal hammer attack at a Chinese restaurant in New York City is being investigated as a possible hate crime targeting Asian men, authorities said on Thursday, as the death toll climbed to three and the suspect remained in a psychiatric ward.

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Suspect Arthur Martunovich, who is white and lives a few blocks from the restaurant, is expected to face three counts under the state's top murder charge, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison if he's convicted.

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According to police, Martunovich walked into Seaport Buffet just after 5 p.m. and began whacking unsuspecting men working there with a hammer before fleeing on foot. A hammer was found at the scene.

Police said Martunovich told officers that he was motivated to commit the attack after watching a movie in which Asian women were treated poorly by Asian men.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/3rd-person-dies-after-NYC-restaurant-hammer-attack-13558436.php

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Arthur Martunovich (right)

Hammer ‘killer’ thought he was defending Chinese women with buffet attack
By Larry Celona, Tina Moore and Aaron Feis January 16, 2019 | 6:23pm

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Martunovich — who a longtime acquaintance said emigrated from Estonia as a teen — also invoked the extraterrestrial in his meandering interrogation, sources said.

“He was saying psycho stuff about space aliens,” one high-ranking police source told The Post.

Whatever prompted Martuonvich’s break, it apparently came recently, as he had no known criminal history in New York before Tuesday, where he was charged with murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon, sources said.

He was suspected in a 2016 assault, sources said, but was never charged because the alleged victim declined to go forward with the case.

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https://nypost.com/2019/01/16/hammer-killer-thought-he-was-defending-chinese-women-with-buffet-attack/