[Update: Police arrest teen for Payson sledgehammer and day care center attack]
Police in Payson asked residents to shelter in place while they looked for a man who attacked someone with a sledgehammer and then entered a day care center and started punching children.
The order was lifted Friday evening — although by that time, police still hadn’t caught the suspect.
Payson police, in a statement, said that the attack happened around 10:30 a.m., when a woman reported that the man was attacking one of her neighbors with a sledgehammer, near the intersection of 600 East and 500 South.
The woman yelled at the man to stop, and the man “turned his attention to her,” the statement from Payson police said. The man walked to her house, which is a day care facility, and started hitting children and another adult with his fists. The man then ran off, and was still at large as of 3 p.m.
The neighbor who was hit with the sledgehammer was flown to a hospital; police did not know his condition Friday night. The children who were hit are receiving medical attention for their injuries, and their parents have been notified.
The suspect is described as a white man, with long black hair tied in a bun. He was wearing a black shirt and black shorts. Police initially released information about a possible second suspect but later determined the man acted alone.
Payson police are asking anyone in the area who has a surveillance camera to check for footage of the man. They released some video Friday afternoon.
