A 20-year-old transient man attacked a Loveland Endless Summer Tanning employee with a hammer just before 7 p.m. Tuesday, injuring her and a customer, according to the .
The man, Kyle Behrens, is facing two counts of attempted first-degree murder with extreme indifference, a class two felony; first-degree burglary with a deadly weapon, a class three felony; attempted first-degree assault with a deadly weapon, a class four felony; third-degree assault, a class one misdemeanor; second-degree assault with a weapon a class four felony; and first-degree assault with a weapon, a class three felony, according to jail records.
During a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Loveland Police Department Public Information Officer Chris Padgett said that Behrens entered the tanning salon, at 1518 Madison Ave., and immediately attacked the 21-year-old employee inside, repeatedly hitting her in the head with a hammer and knocking her to the floor.
“At this point in our investigation, we believe that she was struck more than a dozen times in the head with the hammer,” Padgett said, adding that preliminary findings lead investigators to believe the attack was random. He said the department is investigating drug use by the suspect, but that nothing has been confirmed.
He said the man then dragged the employee into a separate room in the tanning salon and reportedly tried to barricade the main business entrance, giving the employee time to flee into a nearby room with a 42-year-old customer. Padgett said the attack was reported around 6:44 p.m. by the customer.
Behrens then used the hammer to break through the door and continued to assault the employee and the customer with a knife he also had, Padgett said. Together, the customer and the victim were able to disarm the suspect, he added.
Loveland Police Department officers arrived within three minutes and arrested Behrens. Both victims received emergency medical care and the customer, who sustained more minor injuries, has been released from the hospital, Padgett said.
The employee remains hospitalized with serious injuries, Padgett said.
Padgett commended both victims for their strength and expressed appreciation for dispatch staff and officers who responded.
“If there is any credit we can give, these two victims — unbelievable,” Padgett said. “They are alive today because of their will to survive.”
Within the last week, an officer spoke to Behrens near the Loveland Resource Center regarding a non-criminal matter, Padgett said, but added that the salon had not reported any similar incidents or previous encounters with the suspect.
In the previous conversation, the officer learned that the suspect was from Longmont but had recently made his way to Loveland, Padgett said.
Behrens’ first court appearance is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Dec. 18 in 8th Judicial District Court in Fort Collins, according to jail records. He remains in custody at the Larimer County Jail on a $500,000 cash-only bail.
