FARMINGTON – When a man and woman armed with an ax and meat cleaver attacked him at his home, Jeremiah Gattis feared if he didn’t fight back they would kill him and his girlfriend.

“I was covered in blood and just trying not to get murdered,” Gattis said.

Gattis, 33, on Tuesday described fighting off his attackers in a desperate struggle to keep them from getting inside his Poverty Lane mobile home in the middle of the night.

Police have arrested the woman they said was involved and are still looking for Brian Sweeney, 31, who they believe is the other attacker and until hours before lived in the mobile home with Gattis and his girlfriend.

Gattis said he and his girlfriend awoke to a tapping sound just before their bedroom window was shattered around 1 a.m. on April 4. They ran to the front door only to be cut off by a man, whom Gattis said was Sweeney, who smashed the door’s glass and was trying to get inside.

Gattis said Sweeney and he had argued earlier in the day and agreed Sweeney should move out.

Gattis yanked the door open and said Sweeney swung the ax at him. Gattis caught the ax handle in his hand, sending both men tumbling to the ground onto the shards of broken glass.

While they wrestled for control of the ax, a woman burst into the entrance and attacked Gattis with a meat cleaver. Gattis said she hacked at his head and hands with the cleaver, hitting him about a dozen times before Gattis grabbed the cleaver away and ran into the yard.

The attackers then got into a car and sped away. He ran back inside to check on his girlfriend, who had called the police during the attack.

Gattis went to the hospital with gashes to his hands and head. He said he also had minor cuts and bruises all over his body, a twisted knee and sprained ankle. He was treated and released that day, he said.

Sweeney had been staying at the mobile home for a couple years, sleeping on the couch and doing occasional repair jobs for the couple in lieu of rent. Gattis said they met at the tattoo shop that Gattis owns and runs in Farmington.

The pair argued about eight hours before the attack, after Sweeney arrived at the mobile home heavily intoxicated. Gattis said he got a text message later from mutual friends saying they would meet up the next day, when Sweeney would pick up clothes he left at the mobile home.

Gattis said he didn’t hear back from Sweeney again until he saw him smashing through the front door that night. He said the attack has left him badly shaken.

On Monday, Shari Dupree was arrested on a warrant in connection with the attack, said Farmington Police Detective Marc Bowering.

Dupree, 31, of Wilton, was charged with burglary and aggravated assault. She was released Monday on $2,500 cash bail from Franklin County Detention Center.

Bowering said an arrest warrant has been issued for Sweeney, who faces the same charges as Dupree in the attack.

Bowering confirmed that Gattis was injured and treated at the hospital but would not discuss details of the incident because the investigation continues. The affidavit in support of Dupree’s arrest was sealed at the order of prosecutors.

Investigators ask anyone with information about Sweeney’s whereabouts to call Farmington police at 778-6311.

Morning Sentinel Staff Writer David F. Robinson can be contacted at 861-9287 or at:

drobinson@centralmaine.com

 

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