Police: Man hits 4 grandmothers with hammer

Beauty parlor attack leaves one woman with fractured skull

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updated 9:16 p.m. ET Aug. 11, 2007

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - A 41-year-old man stormed a beauty salon and bludgeoned four grandmothers with a hammer, fracturing one’s skull, before making off with less than $90, police said.

Thomas Leyshon III, of Mountain Top, was arrested after a daylong manhunt Friday.

The women, aged 56 to 76, did not resist but were beaten anyway, witnesses said. At least one required surgery.

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“It takes a coward to go after some old women,” said Andy Chopka, grandson of victim Jeanna Chopka.

Authorities allege Leyshon attacked a co-owner of Hairem Family Hair and Nail Care while demanding money from the register and the women’s purses.

‘Senseless act of brutality’
“This is a completely senseless act of brutality against women who were doing nothing more than spending a day at the beauty parlor,” prosecutor David Lupas said. “These are ... the most vulnerable of victims.”

Leyshon was being held Saturday on $100,000 bail. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

The victims were treated at hospitals for head and facial injuries.