Police in Asheville, North Carolina, arrested a Georgia man earlier this month who allegedly left his victim "beaten and partially scalped," according to authorities.
Leyton James Lanier, 21, was arrested Dec. 10 after the Asheville Police Department (APD) said officers responded to a call the day before of an assault that occurred in the city's Kenilworth neighborhood, which has historically been a quiet residential area but has recently been experiencing violent crime.
When they came on the scene, police said they found a man who had been "beaten and partially scalped," according to an APD press release. Authorities said the victim had been severely beaten with a blunt object and robbed.
Following an investigation, police said they uncovered a stolen vehicle from an unrelated burglary and identified Lanier as a suspect in both crimes.
When they searched Lanier's home, APD said they found evidence "further linking Lanier to a nearby burglary in November."
Lanier was taken into custody and slapped with 14 charges, including first-degree burglary and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.
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Lanier was booked in the Buncombe County Jail under a $290,000 secured bond, according to APD.
Asheville, a historic tourist town of approximately 90,000 people in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, has seen violent crime spike in recent years.
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Violent crime rose 31% per 100,000 people from 2016 to 2020 in the city, nearly double the national average and 18 percentage points higher than North Carolina's 13% statewide increase during the same period.
APD released new statistics in September that showed such trends have continued, increasing 34% year-to-date compared to last year and 29% over 2020.
