Man held in salon hammer attack

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - A man who stormed a beauty salon and bludgeoned four grandmothers with a hammer made off with less than $90 in the daytime robbery, police said.

Thomas Leyshon III, 41, of Mountain Top, was arrested after a daylong manhunt Friday. The women, ages 56 to 76, suffered injuries that included a fractured skull, and at least one victim required surgery.

"It takes a coward to go after some old women," said Andy Chopka, grandson of victim Jeanna Chopka.

Leyshon allegedly entered Hairem Family Hair and Nail Care at 11 a.m. Friday and attacked a co-owner while demanding money from the register and the women's purses. The women did not resist but were nonetheless beaten, witnesses said.

Leyshon, who was arrested in downtown Wilkes-Barre after police received a tip, was being held yesterday in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility on $100,000 bail.

Police did not release the victims' names, but three were identified by family and friends as Chopka, co-owner Emily Klem, and patron Joan Ostrowski. They were taken by ambulance from the salon, which is located in a shopping center, to hospitals, where they were treated for head and facial injuries.

Chopka, 56, of Plains Township, who sustained cuts and bruises to her head and face, was alert after surgery, family members said. She was in stable condition yesterday.

Klem, who was struck in the back of the head, was also in stable condition yesterday, the hospital supervisor said.

Ostrowski, who was struck in the head and arm, was listed in serious condition Friday night at Geisinger South in Wilkes-Barre.

The fourth victim was treated and released. A fifth person in the salon at the time, a co-owner, was in a back room and called 911, witnesses said.