A Hatfield Township man is facing attempted murder charges after he allegedly struck a male victim in the head with a slate hammer at the behest of an “Archangel” who told him to “kill magog.”
Anthony Varallo, 30, of Hatfield Township, has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault – causing serious bodily injury with extreme indifference, and possession of an instrument of crime, in connection with the Sept. 17 incident.
The investigation initially began with a pedestrian-struck dispatch at 1:32 a.m. along the 700 block of Bethlehem Pike in the Colmar section of Hatfield Township. Responding officers located a 30-year-old victim in a grassy area of the southbound lanes of Bethlehem Pike, bleeding heavily from a head wound. Police said the victim was yelling for help but was otherwise incoherent and unable to answer any questions.
The criminal complaint notes that the victim was missing his right shoe, which was located in the parking lot of the Midas store across the street. Additionally, police said there was no evidence in the roadway indicating that the victim had been struck by a vehicle, which shifted their investigation towards a potential aggravated assault and away from a pedestrian being struck.
The victim was transported from the scene in critical condition to Grand View Hospital, where he underwent emergency neurosurgery. Medical staff reported to investigators that the head injury was consistent with a penetrating injury — though not a gunshot wound — adding that the injury was “tunnel-shaped,” which indicated that whatever caused the injury entered and exited the victim’s head from the same path.
Investigators learned that the victim was a resident of the nearby Hatfield Motel, who was known to wander the complex and exercise outside late at night. In reviewing the surveillance footage from the motel, investigators saw a while, shirtless male subject holding what appeared to be a slate hammer in the parking lot at 1:12 a.m. – 20 minutes before police were dispatched to the pedestrian struck incident on the same block, according to the complaint.
The male subject was captured on surveillance swinging the hammer around while walking through the complex and parking lot, the report states. Investigators added that surveillance showed the victim in the parking lot around the same time, before the victim began jogging towards Bethlehem Pike and out of camera view, the report states.
The male subject was later identified as Varallo, who was staying in a room at the Hatfield Motel at the time of the incident, police said. The report states that Varallo was voluntarily interviewed at the Hatfield Township Police Station several hours after the incident, at which point he confessed to attacking the victim from behind with the slate hammer in an attempt to kill him. Varallo told investigators that “the Archangel Gabriel” had instructed him to “kill magog,” according to the complaint.
Police later retrieved the slate hammer from a backpack located in Varallo’s room, the report states.
Court records show that charges were filed against Varallo on Sept. 18. He was subsequently arraigned by District Judge James Gallagher, who set bail at $750,000 cash. Varallo was remanded to county jail after failing to post bail, and his next court appearance is a preliminary hearing on Sept. 28 at 10:30 a.m. in front of Judge Gallagher.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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