Police ID suspect in assault on elderly volunteers outside thrift shop
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Police identified the suspect accused of attacking two elderly volunteers right outside of a thrift shop near downtown Albuquerque.
Albuquerque police are looking for Brian Eisenbeis. He is accused of attacking two men in their 80s earlier this month outside of St. John’s Thrift Shop on Central near 14th Street. They say Eisenbeis used homosexual slurs before breaking the femur of one man and injuring the other.
Investigators say Eisenbeis also punched a woman in the face while she was jogging, knocking her down. It happened at 12th and Silver around 2 p.m., about two hours after the alleged attack on the two men.
The woman told police she saw Eisenbeis driving erratically before he stopped at the stop sign. He waved her through the intersection. However, she didn’t feel comfortable walking in front of his truck so she waved back. That is when he reportedly exited the truck and punched her.
Police pulled Eisenbeis over the next day but they say he refused to cooperate. When police showed a lineup of photos to one of the witnesses, they reportedly couldn’t positively identify Eisenbeis as the attacker. Another witness said Eisenbeis resembled the suspect while another witness narrowed it down a group of suspects to him and another person they were “only 50% sure on.”
Police let Eisenbeis go at that time. However, they noticed Eisenbeis’s truck in the following days and that he had changed various aspects. They believed it was to avoid detection.
Eisenbeis faces two counts of aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm as well as charges of misdemeanor battery and tampering with evidence.
Authorities are still looking for him. They haven’t ruled out charging him with a hate crime.
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