Video above: See the week’s top headlines in Tampa Bay
LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) — A Largo man was accused of trying to kill his elderly neighbor by attacking him with a hammer on Wednesday.
Brian Gene Rye, 55, and the 84-year-old victim did not know each other, Largo police said.
Man arrested in connection to Temple Terrace child abduction, sexual assault investigation
Rye told Largo police that his “Father,” referring to God, told him to “kill a pedophile,” so he walked over to his neighbor’s home with a cayenne pepper mixture and a metal hammer, according to an arrest report. He was accused of throwing the mixture into the man’s face to blind him and then beating him with the hammer, causing “significant clear bloody injuries to the victim’s eyes, arms and head.”…