‘Quite frightening’: Witness details moments following near fatal attack in downtown Hamilton

Rebecca Londner first heard the honking of car horns. Then, she heard shouting coming from the street outside her house.

Venturing outside with no shoes on, Londner said she saw a woman staggering" toward her on her side of the street.

As she got closer, I realized she was bleeding from the head - quite a lot," said Londner, who lives close by the intersection of York Boulevard and Queen Street North.

The 32-year-old didn't know what happened Monday evening, but she saw two men across the street waving first-aid kits. She first wondered if the woman had been hit by a car.

Londner tried to usher the woman into her home but she didn't respond. So Londner went back inside, put on her shoes and caught up with the two men who had been across the street.

The three of them followed the woman to her apartment building, just a bit down the block on Queen Street North.

Londner said they got the woman to stop in the vestibule and wait for the ambulance and police to arrive. While squatting between the apartment doors, the men applied first aid to the woman's head.

The trio were able to determine the woman spoke Vietnamese. Using Google Translate on her phone, Londner figured out what apartment the woman lived in and asked the woman if she knew her attacker.

She said No,'" said Londner. Meanwhile, there was just this pool of blood collecting at my feet, it was really terrible."

According to Hamilton police, the 46-year-old woman was allegedly attacked by Keith Allan Overholt, 38, of no fixed address around 6:30 p.m. Monday. He's been charged with attempted murder - and is a suspect in a fatal stabbing in which the victim was found the next morning.

Londner didn't witness the attack on the woman, but from what she was told by the men that did, the attacker was armed with a wooden two-by-four.

When the two men saw the attack from inside their office building, they ran outside and scared the attacker away," said Londner.

The Spectator had reached out to one of the men for comment but they declined an interview.

The other witnesses told Londner that the woman had walked past her attacker, who was sitting outside of a building.

She clearly didn't know him," said Londner. Then, he attacked her once her back was turned."

Police have not released the identity of the woman, but Londner said she is hoping to somehow be connected with the victim to check-in with her and offer support in her recovery from the incident.

It's quite frightening to me," said Londner of the unprovoked attack. A woman almost lost her life because of it."

Fallon Hewitt is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: fhewitt@thespec.com