By KATHERINE PETERSEN
Sunnyvale Public Safety officers were unusually busy April 10, responding to three calls of assaults with deadly weapons.
"I don't think we've had three cases during one night. I can think of times when we've had two but not three," Lt. Tom Piatanesi said.
He added it's difficult to say why they occurred in the same night because the three cases are unrelated.
In the first case, police responded to a Sunnyvale business where Randall Ehnert, 39, allegedly struck his father several times in the head with a hammer before fleeing with his father's wallet and car keys.
At about 5:25 p.m., the father was playing solitaire on his computer when he was hit from behind. Police said he turned to find his son standing over him, demanding the wallet and keys.
Police said they found the father in his business at 1190 Mountain View-Alviso Road. He was taken to El Camino Hospital, where doctors treated him for a head injury.
Ehnert allegedly fled in his father's 1988 Ford Ranger. Monterey authorities arrested him the next day and took him back to police custody in Sunnyvale.
Then, at 9:45 p.m., officers responded to a fight reported at 901 Blazingwood Ave. involving rocks, sticks and baseball bats. Officers said they found two male victims in a vehicle on the street. A 21-year-old man sustained head and facial injuries and a broken arm in the attack and a 17-year-old was found unharmed in the rear of the car.
Police said the windows and headlights of the victim's car had been broken.
Evidence revealed that the fight may have involved two rival gangs. Police said several participants left when officers arrived to arrest five males for assault with a deadly weapon.
Finally, police said, a Klee Court resident was found the night of the 10th in his home with a knife embedded in his back.
The 36-year-old victim, had hired the suspect to care for his aunt and had let the suspect do gardening work to earn more money, police said. The suspect had been drinking during the day, police added.
It's believed the stabbing took place about 11 p.m. The suspect fled before police arrived and is still at large. Police describe him as a white male, about 25 years old, six feet two inches, 200 pounds with blond hair and hazel eyes.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 17, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.