{"id":19441,"date":"2026-02-19T08:37:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=19441"},"modified":"2026-02-18T05:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:50:18","slug":"moorhead-hammer-attack-leads-to-felony-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/moorhead-hammer-attack-leads-to-felony-charge\/","title":{"rendered":"Moorhead: Hammer Attack Leads to Felony Charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moorhead, Clay County<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Moorhead man faces a felony charge after a reported hammer attack this month.<\/p>\n

Mitchell Albert Spitzmiller<\/strong>, 39, was charged Tuesday in Clay County District Court. The charge is second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. Court records say he has no permanent address. He remains in custody at the Clay County Jail.<\/p>\n

What the complaint alleges<\/h2>\n

The assault was reported on Feb. 11 in the 900 block of 18th Street South in Moorhead. The details come from a criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

Documents say Spitzmiller rode a bus with a couple. He allegedly offered to pay their fare. The group later walked after leaving the bus.<\/p>\n

During the ride and walk, Spitzmiller allegedly told the woman he loved her. He also said he wanted to be with her. The complaint says she rejected him.<\/p>\n

He then asked her for a hug, according to the complaint. After the hug, he allegedly made a threat about taking \u201ceverything\u201d with him. The complaint says he referred to the other man\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Witnesses told police Spitzmiller pulled a hammer from a camouflage bag. They said he swung it several times at the other man.<\/p>\n

The first swing knocked the victim\u2019s phone away, court records say. The victim was trying to call 911. A second swing hit the victim\u2019s hand, the complaint says. A third swing missed when the victim moved.<\/p>\n

The victim told police he feared for his life. He reported pain in his left hand. He declined medical care at the scene.<\/p>\n

\"Mitchell
Mitchell Albert Spitzmiller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prior report and arrest<\/h2>\n

The complaint also describes an earlier incident from three days before. The victim said Spitzmiller became aggressive and tried to stab him.<\/p>\n

Because of that report, the victim said he pre-dialed 911 on his phone. Spitzmiller allegedly fled after realizing the call was made.<\/p>\n

Police arrested Spitzmiller on Feb. 13 in Dilworth. Officers found him near an abandoned building on Main Street, court documents say.<\/p>\n

Possible penalties and public records<\/h2>\n

Second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon can bring up to seven years in prison. It can also bring a fine up to $14,000. See Minnesota Statute 609.222<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Readers can review case access options through Minnesota Court Records Online (MCRO)<\/a>. Jail custody information may also appear on the Clay County Inmate Roster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Charges are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent in court.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moorhead, Clay County (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A Moorhead man faces a felony charge after a reported hammer attack this month. Mitchell Albert Spitzmiller, 39, was charged Tuesday in Clay County District Court. The charge is second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. Court records say he has no permanent address. He remains in custody at the Clay… Continue reading Moorhead: Hammer Attack Leads to Felony Charge<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[1164,848,1136,1145,772,3203,2141,961,5266,3944,4030,2051,4546,13620,1346,1835,3094],"class_list":["post-19441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-attack","tag-charge","tag-clay-county","tag-clay-county-jail","tag-crime","tag-dangerous-weapon","tag-dilworth","tag-felony","tag-felony-assault","tag-hammer","tag-hammer-attack","tag-leads","tag-minnesota-statute-609-222","tag-mitchell-albert-spitzmiller","tag-moorhead","tag-moorhead-mn","tag-second-degree-assault","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19441"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19554,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19441\/revisions\/19554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}