Crime & Safety
Cranston Man Invades Park Holm Apartment: Newport Police Allege
The suspect wielded a hammer at the woman resident, but she kicked him in the groin and took the weapon away. Her children called police.
NEWPORT, RI — A Newport woman had a harrowing experience Sunday when a man with a hammer allegedly broke through the back screen door of her apartment and threatened to kill her. Nelson Dean Ruiz, 35, of Cranston, came into her house and threatened to kill her, police allege. She kicked him in the groin, knocked him to the floor, took the hammer away, and called to her children, 7 and 9, to run away and call police.
When officers arrived around 12:30 p.m., they found Ruiz standing by the front screen door holding a television remote device. The victim was standing in the kitchen behind him. According to police, she looked scared and told them he tried to kill her with a hammer. He was removing a flat screen television from the wall when he heard officers arrive, and he set it down on a table, police allege.
Ruiz was charged with three felonies: Breaking and Entering a Dwelling House (when the resident is home); Assault with a deadly weapon in a dwelling house; and first degree robbery.
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