DULUTH, Minn. — The suspect accused of beating an 81-year-old man with a hammer in the restroom of a Duluth supermarket Friday has been charged.

Lance Alexander Tolbert, 43, of Duluth, Minn., was charged May 28, 2024, in St. Louis County District Court with using a hammer to assault an 81-year-old man in the restroom of a Duluth grocery store on May 24. (St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office via Forum News Service)

Lance Alexander Tolbert, 43, of Duluth, was charged Tuesday with premeditated first-degree attempted murder.

The criminal complaint alleges Tolbert stepped out of a Mount Royal Market men’s restroom stall around 8:50 a.m. and struck the back of the head of a man standing at the urinal. Tolbert reportedly continued the attack after the victim fell to the floor.

Duluth Police Department identified the victim as Bradley French and reported Tuesday he was in stable condition. The complaint said French continues to receive treatment, including surgery, for his injuries, including a skull fracture, cuts on his hands and scalp, a deep puncture wound on one arm, and a broken hand.

Police said French and Tolbert did not know each other.

During the attack, French “fought back” and managed to take the hammer from Tolbert, who had put his gloved fingers into French’s mouth, according to the complaint. The attack stopped when another person entered the restroom, prompting Tolbert to take the hammer and run from the store.

Tolbert was found 13 minutes later, the complaint said. Blood was found on his clothes, body, and on a hatchet attached to his belt. Tolbert was wearing winter boots, a black T-shirt, insulated camouflage overalls and protective shinpads.

The next day, police found Tolbert’s black hooded jacket and “a hammer covered in what appeared to be blood” in its pocket, according to the complaint.

In a letter Tuesday, Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Anthony Rubin urged the judge not to consider any pretrial release because “the nature of this violence poses such an incredible threat to public safety.” Rubin recommended the court set Tolbert’s bail at $500,000.

“It is only due to grace and grit that the 81-year-old veteran who was surprise-attacked in a grocery store men’s restroom still pulls breath on this earth,” Rubin wrote.

According to the complaint, French had stopped in the restroom before shopping with a friend.

Tolbert remained lodged at the St. Louis County Jail on Tuesday afternoon. No bail was listed on the jail roster.

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The balance of the Western Conference Finals may very well rest on the shoulders – err, neck – of a 20-year-old rookie center.

That’s how much Dallas big man Dereck Lively II has meant to the Mavericks all season, but especially in this series.

“He’s an outstanding young player, big part of what they do,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “When they put those two bigs together, they just keep coming at you. A lot of size, a lot of bounce, a lot of activity and swallows up the rim. Yeah, no doubt they miss him.”

Lively has missed the last six quarters of the series with a sprained neck suffered when he took an inadvertent knee from Karl-Anthony Towns to the back of the head in the second quarter of Game 3.

With him sidelined, Minnesota roared back in the third quarter of Game 3 before dropping the game in crunch time. Then the Wolves won Game 4 to extend their season.

The ways in which Minnesota has achieved its success suggests it correlates with Lively’s absence.

The Wolves – specifically Anthony Edwards and Towns – found more of an offensive rhythm in Game 4. That seemed to start with having more success around the rim. Over the first two games of the series, Minnesota shot 47 percent inside eight feet. Over the past two games, that number has spiked to 65 percent.

Why? It relates specifically to Lively’s minutes, and who’s filling them. Because Minnesota is still struggling to produce on the interior when Daniel Gafford is in the game, but Gafford has been backed up by Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber – power forwards who are no threat to block shots.

When those two have played, the Wolves are 11 for 12 from inside eight feet, and are shooting 52 percent in that range when they’re not on the floor. Dallas is able to maintain constant rim protection when it can platoon Lively and Gafford together.

“When you don’t have that and Gafford’s not playing 48 minutes, there are spells where you can get downhill and get into the paint and try to finish and utilize that to our advantage,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said.

Lively’s absence is felt just as much on the offensive end. That’s where he’s superior to Gafford. Dallas is scoring a scorching 132.5 points per 100 possessions this series when Lively is on the floor. He’s 13 for 13 from the field and, just as importantly, has seven assists to just one turnover. He’s an elite lob threat, but also is a strong decision maker when he catches the ball out of the roll. Lively gives Dallas another legitimate offensive threat for which the Wolves have to account, which isn’t easy to do when Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are also on the floor.

Lively told Andscape his injury is a “day to day” thing that he’s not trying to rush. Dallas upgraded him to questionable for Game 5 on Thursday in Minneapolis after he was doubtful for Game 4. If the big man can return for the remainder of this series, the task of winning three more games is far more daunting for Minnesota.

“Yeah, he’s a big piece to our defense and offense,” Doncic said. “We miss him a lot.”

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Before we send the Timberwolves into a) the offseason or b) NBA history, it makes sense to take a minute and think about what this team has done so far this season.

Specifically, in their Western Conference semifinal against the defending champion Denver Nuggets, which included at least two, and possibly three of the best victories I’ve seen from a Minnesota sports team in the 23 years I’ve been at the Pioneer Press.

No NBA team has ever rallied from a three-game playoff series deficit, so theoretically this Timberwolves team still has a chance for more greatness. Our eyes are telling us something different, that the Wolves — and particularly Anthony Edwards — are tired, and the Dallas Mavericks seem a little more ready for the moment.

Teams generally have to build a playoff resume before winning it all. At least, the Timberwolves have accomplished this. But there is something bigger at work here, and that it’s coming from the Timberwolves is an unexpected treat for Minnesota sports fans who lean toward being disappointed by the big picture rather than enjoy and savor the occasionally great moment.

The Wolves had three genuinely great games in their seven-game takedown of the Nuggets, including a 45-point victory to force Game 7 and, perhaps most notably, their late rally to clinch the series in Denver after being left for dead. But it’s Game 2 that stands out, a defensive clinic that thoroughly broke the Nuggets in the first half of a 106-80 victory at Ball Arena that seemed to come out of nowhere.

The Timberwolves had a good season, no doubt, but that win was astonishing.

It was just getting started as Twins writers furiously typed up their game stories on a 3-1 victory over Seattle, and a few of the televisions were tuned to the late broadcast. Reporters took turns checking the screen and updating those in the press box, and every reply was a variant on “Are you serious?”

It was the most surprising performance by a Minnesota sports team since the Vikings lost the NFC Championship Game to the New York Giants 41-0 at the Meadowlands, only in a good way. That loss, BTW, happened the day before a certain scribe started work in St. Paul, Jan. 14, 2001. Twenty-three years later, it’s referenced, on average, by Minnesota sports fans 32.7 times a year.

This time, the Minnesota team was on the other end. It was stunning.

It reminded a former Chicago sports fan of a 1984 NFL divisional playoff in Washington, D.C. Chicago won, 23-19, and for a teenage Bears fan who still cared, it felt like winning the lottery on Christmas morning. It was a totally unexpected performance by a team that had made the playoffs only twice in 21 years, and hadn’t won a postseason game since the NFL championship in 1963.

This is what the Timberwolves gave their fans this season, and the fact that it came from the most generally inadequate of all Minnesota’s pro sports teams made it even better. Or at least more astounding. The Minneapolis Miracle doesn’t hold a candle to it because the Vikings were expected to win that game — should have won that game — and, let’s face it, were a little lucky. The Timberwolves took it to Denver and never stopped.

It was like a bolt out of the blue for someone without a horse in the race. For an emotionally disconnected witness, it was the best Minnesota pro sports victory he has seen.

If the Wolves rally to win this series and give Minnesota its first NBA Finals since the Lakers were still in Minneapolis, they will have made history, and maybe that Game 2 conference semifinal victory gets a little lost. But if fatigue, history and Luka Doncic finally catch up to the Timberwolves on Thursday, that win remains the kind of thing a team — if not a franchise — can hold onto for future reference.

Don’t let your disappointment stop you from enjoying what the team, this particular team, showed everyone on May 6.

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