Man charged with attempted murder in brutal beating near EWU

A 24-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder in connection with an Oct. 8 assault that critically injured another man at an apartment complex near Eastern Washington University.

John T. Mellgren was booked into Spokane County Jail on Thursday evening. According to court documents, he and two other assailants chased 20-year-old Robert D. Schreiber through the Grove apartments, tackled him in the complex’s basketball court, and kicked him several times in the torso at about 1 a.m.

Police interviewed at least eight witnesses and determined the men beat Schreiber in the basketball court, walked to Mellgren’s car to retrieve a metal baseball bat and returned to find Schreiber had run away.

After chasing him down a second time, the men beat Schreiber near the exit of the apartment complex, according to court documents. While he remained on the ground, one of the men struck him several times in the head with the baseball bat – hard enough to bend the bat.

Mellgren is not accused of using the bat. But “any reasonable person” would know that kicking a man with head trauma “is conduct which creates a grave risk of death in itself,” a detective wrote in court documents.

Schreiber, an EWU junior who was on the track team last year, was “semi-conscious and breathing” when police found him, court documents say. He was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center with multiple skull fractures and bleeding in the brain, and placed in a medically induced coma. He remains in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said Friday.

Schreiber’s father, Alan Schreiber, said family and friends rushed to the hospital early Sunday morning and have spent the past week by his side at the hospital. He said hospital staff continue to monitor Schreiber and are keeping him heavily sedated.

“Who the hell does something like this?” Alan Schreiber said. “How can anyone have this callous disregard for someone else? The only reason my son is alive is because of the people at Sacred Heart Hospital and the people at EMS.”

The family said Schreiber had no connection with the three assailants, and they question whether they had any ties to Cheney or EWU. Other than what they’ve heard or read on the news, they don’t know anything about what happened that night.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever know,” Alan Schreiber said. “I know there was an altercation. I don’t know. No one has told me anything.”

One witness told police she was in her apartment when a man pounded on her door pleading for help. She didn’t let the man inside and watched through the peephole as three men chased him away. She later found blood on the door, according to court documents.

Mellgren told police that Schreiber had jumped on the rear window of Mellgren’s sedan, shattering it. But Mellgren claimed he never saw Schreiber after that.

Police impounded and later searched the car, which had blood on the rear window. In the trunk they found a handgun with an “altered” serial number and two bats, including one that matched witness descriptions and was stained with blood.

During a hearing Friday afternoon in Spokane County Superior Court, Judge Gregory Sypolt set Mellgren’s bond at $1 million. It’s not clear if the other assailants face charges.

Mellgren’s Facebook page says he graduated from EWU in 2014.

Staff writer Jonathan Glover contributed to this report.