NIH Scientist Charged with Using Hammer in Roommate Attack

A longtime computer scientist for the National Institutes of Health is out on bail after being accused of trying to kill his roommate with a hammer when she was walking his dog and it was hit by a car.

On Aug. 4, Timothy Oliver, 68, of Rockville, left his dog with his roommate while he was at work. That evening the woman called him to say that the 3-year-old Maltese mix had gotten loose and was struck by a car. The pet died at a veterinary hospital.

According to charging documents filed in Montgomery County District Court, Oliver, is due in court Aug. 29 on charges of attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault.

The Washington Post says his victim was listed in stable condition Saturday at an area hospital.

Authorities say Oliver took his dog’s body back to his condo on the 6000 block of California Circle. As his roommate tried to explain what had happened to the pet, the scientist grabbed a hammer and hit the victim repeatedly in the head, fracturing her skull.

Following the attack, Oliver allegedly left his roommate unconscious on the sidewalk. A neighbor found the victim lying beside her cat, and a pile of personal belongings, reports WJLA TV.

“It’s hard for me to believe,” Oliver’s next-door neighbor, Mary Krause, told the TV station “His actions went from bad to worse. You don’t attack somebody over something like that.”

Oliver, a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, has worked at NIH’s Bethesda campus since 1980.