"Incredibly violent:" Man faces attempted homicide charges in elevator attack on stranger

KENOSHA — Charges have been filed against a southern Wisconsin man accused of attacking a stranger in the elevator of a senior living facility.

Brian Palmer of Pleasant Prairie was charged Wednesday, June 14th with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, strangulation and suffocation, and false imprisonment, The Kenosha News (http://bit.ly/2sDBD1u) reported.

Investigators said a 54-year-old woman was on her way to visit her mother Monday when she stepped into an elevator in a Pleasant Prairie senior apartment campus. Palmer got into the elevator and attacked the woman, according to a criminal complaint.

The woman was able to push the elevator alarm. When the doors opened, Palmer ran out, authorities said.

Emergency personnel responded to the alarm and found the woman with bruises and scratches around her neck. She was also bleeding from a laceration over her eye.

Palmer was later apprehended near St. Catherine's Medical Center. His bond has been set at $100,000.

"This is incredibly violent, and certainly must have been incredibly scary (for the victim), and there is really very little explanation for it," said Court Commissioner David Berman in setting the bond for Palmer. "It appears to be a random act of violence."

Palmer's defense attorney James Fields-Bowers said he's aware the 33-year-old has some mental health issues, but he hasn't requested a competency examination.