Grandson Tells Cops ‘Grim Reaper’ Told Him to Kill ‘Grammie’ Before Hatchet Attack

A 19-year-old Maine man has been thrown behind bars after he allegedly attacked his 59-year-old grandmother with a hatchet, leaving her with serious injuries.

Ethan Herbert fled the scene on Sunday before deputies arrived, the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office said, but was caught a short time later and charged with domestic violence aggravated assault, domestic violence elevated aggravated assault, and attempted murder.

According to a police report obtained by The Maine Wire, the grandmother had part of her skull removed as a result of the attack.

Herbert had been banned from his grandparents house before the attack, the report said, and he attacked his grandmother when she intervened in a fight between him and his grandfather.

She told police that he told her, “I’m sorry, Grammie, but I have to,” as he attacked her, claiming that “the Grim Reaper told him to do it.

The police report said that he went after her with a “hatchet swinging it violently at her head and arms,” according to Law&Crime.

Deputies said Herbert told them he had been hearing “demons” who told him to “just do it, kill her, put her out of her misery.”