College Theater Worker Critically Injured With Hammer During Fight

In an incident that has shocked students and outraged faculty members, a 36-year-old theater technician at Los Angeles Southwest College was critically injured when a claw hammer was driven into his head during a fight in the theater.

Christopher Bernauer, technical director for the Little Theater at the 5,800-student community college on Imperial Highway in the Athens area of Los Angeles County, was reported in extremely critical condition at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center. A suspect in the case, David Charles Griffith, 32, was arrested and is expected to be charged with attempted murder, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.

The attack took place about 9:40 a.m. Wednesday, when Bernauer and Griffith reportedly got into an argument in the 344-seat theater. Griffith, who is not a student at the college, was on campus helping a clothing company set up a fashion show for the college’s African American History Month celebration.

According to statements made by witnesses to sheriff’s investigators, Griffith was seen hitting Bernauer with a claw hammer, knocking him face-down on the floor near the stage. The witnesses said Griffith stood over Bernauer and hit him twice more with the claw end of the hammer, leaving the hammer embedded in Bernauer’s skull.

More than two dozen students and members of the fashion show group were in the theater when the attack occurred, but only a few witnessed the assault, authorities said.

Capt. Walter Arnold of the campus police said Bernauer’s head injuries were massive.

Griffith was arrested by sheriff’s deputies and college police as he tried to leave the campus.

Faculty members said the attack was the latest in a recent series of violent incidents at the college, including a parking lot carjacking and a non-student’s attempted classroom assault on a professor.

About 30 students and faculty members took advantage of special crisis counseling sessions at the college to cope with the incident.