Man arrested after reported hammer attack in Target restroom in north Spokane

Spokane police officers arrested a man last week after three alleged assaults, including one seemingly random attack with a hammer at a Target, last month.

Gary B. Ault, 37, appeared in court on Tuesday following his arrest on Dec. 27.

According to a probable cause affidavit, police believe Ault attacked a man at about 11 p.m. Dec. 20 at the north Spokane Target, 9770 N. Newport Highway, in the men’s restroom.

The victim told police he was punched multiple times by a man as he was leaving a toilet stall. When he put his arms up to defend himself the man pulled out a hammer from his backpack and struck him with it twice in the head. The victim said he did not know the man and did not know why he was assaulted.

Surveillance footage from Target showed the two men leaving the bathroom at about the same time the night of the reported assault, the affidavit said. There was blood on the tiled floors as the victim left the bathroom followed by the suspect, later identified as Ault, who quickly exited the store, the document said.

Ault is also said to have attacked two women downtown on the evening of Dec. 17, a few days prior to the attack at Target. The two women were drinking alcohol in an alcove on the north side of the Wheatland Bank Building, 222 N. Wall St., when a man with a similar description as Ault approached them and said “I want in on that.”

The man sprayed one woman with pepper spray and kicked both of them in the head, reportedly knocking one woman unconscious, before walking away, court documents said.

As part of their investigation, police obtained a search warrant for a rental car Ault had rented and a room at the Apple Tree Inn, 9508 N. Division St., that had been rented to Ault, court documents said.