Man brutally attacked estranged wife’s boyfriend with baseball bat in Brooklyn Park: Charges

Man charged in brutal Brooklyn Park attack

A man is accused of brutally beating a man in Brooklyn Park, striking him dozens of times with a bat, in an attack caught on tape.

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (FOX 9) - A Fridley man is facing felony charges for allegedly beating his estranged wife’s boyfriend with a baseball bat dozens of times outside his home in Brooklyn Park.

Hennepin County prosecutors charged Mario Ricardo Riera-Arias, 32, on Wednesday with attempted premeditated first-degree murder and first-degree assault causing great bodily harm in connection to the assault on Saturday, Dec. 9.

According to the criminal complaint, a woman called 911 just before 3 a.m., reporting someone had beaten her son with a baseball bat. Police responded to the scene on the 7900 block of Girard Court North and found the victim with "blunt force trauma all over [his] head and face."

The victim was transported to the hospital and placed in a medically induced coma, where he remains in critical condition as of Wednesday. He suffered several skull and facial fractures from the attack, charges explained, and both of his testicles had also ruptured.

During the investigation, authorities learned the victim’s girlfriend called asking about his condition. The woman told investigators they had been in a relationship for a few months, and she was in the process of getting a divorce from her husband, Riera-Arias.

Investigators showed the woman still images taken from the victim’s security cameras that captured the attack, and she identified Riera-Arias, charges allege.

According to court records, on the night of the attack, Riera-Arias hid behind a vehicle just as the victim parked outside the house. When the victim started opening the house door, Riera-Arias ran up behind him and struck him in the back of the head with a baseball bat.

The victim fell after being hit a second time, and Riera-Arias continued to strike him with the baseball bat approximately 45 times, charges allege.

The victim’s mother told authorities she was in the garage with her boyfriend at the time of the attack. She heard her son's car pull up and a short time later described hearing something when her boyfriend opened the garage door and saw her son being attacked with a baseball bat.

Riera-Arias ran and drove away in his red vehicle, and the victim's mother's boyfriend tried to follow him but couldn’t catch up, charges said. Investigators say both of them believe they saw the same red vehicle with a black hood parked outside the house the weekend before.

Police reports indicate Riera-Arias drives a car matching what witnesses described, according to court records.

Law enforcement didn't explicitly state a motive for the attack. Riera-Arias remains in custody at the Hennepin County Jail and is scheduled to make his first court appearance Thursday afternoon.