Woman Indicted for Attacking Man with Claw Hammer

SAN ANGELO— A San Angelo woman has been indicted for attacking a couple with a claw hammer in December.

Elsa Salas Martinez, 51, was indicted by a Tom Green County grand jury for Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon after hitting a man with a hammer.

According to court documents, the victim flagged down a San Angelo Police Officer on December 8, 2023, regarding an assault. Police responded and spoke with the victim and a witness who said they were at their residence on the 500 block of East Harris Street when they heard loud banging outside.

The couple both heard glass breaking and went outside to investigate. There, they encountered the defendant, identified as Martinez, who was using a claw hammer to break windows on their house. Both individuals asked Martinez to stop when she turned towards the man and began attempting to strike him with the claw side of the hammer.

Martinez swung at the man twice, missing both times then connected on a third swing. She struck him in the forearm and if his arm wasn’t in the way, the hammer would have hit the victim in the face, neck, and/or chest area.

Officers located Martinez on scene, and she claimed that she was using the hammer to break the windows on her own house in order to fix them.

Martinez was arrested on December 8, 2023, and has been an inmate in the Tom Green County Jail since being held on $50,000 bond. She is next due in court on July 2, 2024, then has a jury trial currently set for July 15, 2024.