Hatchet Suspect Sought Suture Kit After Attack

He visited urgent-care facility, drug store before Tuesday arrest
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 6, 2018 10:50 AM CDT
Hatchet Suspect Sought Suture Kit After Attack
This photo provided by Metro Nashville Police shows Domenic Micheli.   (Metro Nashville Police via AP)

Before he was arrested Tuesday, but less than two hours after he's alleged to have killed his former boss with a hatchet in Tennessee, Domenic Micheli visited an urgent-care facility, where he tried to buy a suture kit. The 36-year-old suspect—who police say was limping from a left leg injury in Gallatin, 35 miles northeast of the crime scene in the Nashville suburb of Belle Meade—asked for a suture kit but "was not willing to wait or provide any personal information," per the Tennessean. The Virginian-Pilot reports he was told there were no suture kits and left empty-handed within five minutes. Micheli was spotted an hour later buying medical supplies from a Gallatin drugstore, according to police. He was arrested by Kentucky State Police a day later while driving a Toyota Prius near Bowling Green, 80 miles northeast of Nashville.

He's now to face charges in what police call "a senseless, brutal, violent attack" on 46-year-old Joel Paavola. A father of five who fired Micheli from the Balance Training fitness facility 14 months ago, Paavola was assisting clients when Micheli attacked early Monday with a hatchet and a second "cutting instrument," police say. Prior to that incident, Micheli's only contact with police was related to an April arrest near the White House, per CBS News. Last month, a clinical psychologist with DC's behavioral health department found Micheli was competent to stand trial in that case, describing him as "alert, cooperative, and very pleasant," despite him presenting some "information that could potentially be interpreted as irrational." The document notes "issues that may have been present around the time of his arrest may have abated." (More hatchet stories.)

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