Man says suspect in downtown Albuquerque assaults attacked him in 2022
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When a local man saw our coverage of a random, brutal attack outside of an Albuquerque thrift store last month, it sounded terrifyingly familiar.
Then police released the suspect’s name – Brian Eisenbeis.
That was the same name and face of the man who allegedly attacked him a few years ago, just a block away from that same thrift store. Mario Chavez says thankfully he walked away from that attack with just minor injuries, but he’s been on edge not knowing if he’d come across Eisenbeis again.
“I’m still paranoid that he’s out there and I knew when I saw it, yeah, that guy’s a psycho,” Chavez said.
Chavez said he was walking to the bus stop after work one evening in August 2022, making his way on Laguna to Central.
“Just right there on the corner he pulled up like a psycho, stepped on the brakes, got out, ran across to the front of me and just stared at me and said something weird,” Chavez said.
Chavez kept walking, but he says the man began chasing him.
“Somehow got a hold of me and threw me to the ground, broke my glasses, broke my watch, everything,” Chavez said.
The two started wrestling on the ground near Central. Then Chavez says his attacker jumped up and took off.
KOB 4 obtained witness video from police. It doesn’t capture the attack but shows Chavez standing up afterward and throwing a rock at his attacker’s truck.
“I had scrapes and bruises, I took two days off because I couldn’t really move, I was so sore from being slammed on the ground because he’s a big guy,” Chavez said.
Chavez said that police officers met him later that day to take a report. Witnesses had caught the suspect’s license plate number.
A police report shows they were able to connect that plate to another incident on that same day. Police told Chavez that his attack was Brian Eisenbeis, but eventually, the case was closed pending further leads.
“It was just so random and it was just like, I was mad,” Chavez said. “It messes with you but you got to go on, you know?”
The memories came flooding back when he saw a KOB 4 story from mid-April about a brutal, random attack on two elderly volunteers outside of St. John’s Thrift Shop. One volunteer was sent to the hospital with a broken femur. The other volunteer had less severe injuries. Police said the attack was Eisenbeis.
“Once I saw it on the news I was like, yeah, I knew he would be doing it again in this area,” Chavez said.
Police caught Eisenbeis in Missouri earlier this week. He will extradited to New Mexico for the thrift store attacks.
Chavez wonders just how many more people could have been hurt over the years.
“I just wanted to tell my story because there might be other victims out there too, we don’t know,” Chavez said.
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