SALIBSURY, Mass. — Authorities say a Salisbury man has been taken to a Boston hospital after being struck five times on the head with a hatchet.
Police say Stephen Noyes was walking on a rail trail in the woods with a man he knew when the attack occurred just before 4 p.m. on Sunday.
The suspect, identified by authorities as 43-year-old Jay LaRose, believed to be homeless, fled the area and was still at large on Sunday night.
Noyes was in intensive care at the hospital but a spokesman for the Essex district attorney’s office says he is expected to survive.
A motive for the attack remains under investigation.