Anamosa man charged with purposefully hitting cars and threatening people with machete

An Anamosa man was arrested Sunday on several charges — including attempted murder, according to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office — after law enforcement officers say he purposefully hit multiple cars with his own vehicle and then threatened multiple people with a machete.

Brent Wallenmeyer, 30, is being charged with attempted murder and multiple traffic violations, according to a press release from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.

Criminal complaints filed on Iowa Courts Online didn’t show an attempted murder charge, as of Monday afternoon, but did show charges for first-degree robbery, first-degree criminal mischief, willful injury resulting in bodily injury, going armed with intent, interference with official acts, operating under the influence, reckless driving, and two counts of second-degree criminal mischief and assault while displaying a dangerous weapon.

According to a criminal complaint, Wallenmeyer was driving a black pickup truck Sunday at a property off Highway 1 in rural Linn County, north of Mount Vernon. The owner of the property told investigators that Wallenmeyer purposefully crashed his truck into an outbuilding on the property, causing more than $10,000 worth of damage, then purposefully crashed into a Subaru Forester and Ford F-150 on the property, causing more than $1,500 worth of damages between the two vehicles.

Wallenmeyer then drove down the road and pulled his truck in front of another vehicle with three people in it, hitting their vehicle, the complaint states. He got out of his truck and approached the other vehicle while holding a machete over his head, then walked into the roadway and started swinging the machete at other vehicles, the complaint states.

He waved down one woman who pulled over on the side of the road, where Wallenmeyer told her to get out of her vehicle multiple times and then hit her on the shoulder with the dull side of the machete when she tried to leave the scene, according to the complaint.

When a police officer from the Mount Vernon Police Department arrived on scene, Wallenmeyer refused to get out of his truck, tried to leave, and then ran at the officer while displaying his machete. Officers believe he was under the influence of methamphetamine, the complaint states.

Wallenmeyer had his first appearance in court Monday and is being held in the Linn County Jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond.

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