Salem Teen Who Tried to Kill Mother Back in Court Today

The state will ask a judge Thursday morning to send a Cluff Crossing Road teen to trial for holding his mother down and telling her to "just let go" after stabbing and beating her earlier this month.

Thomas George, 18, of 103 Cluff Crossing Road, Apt. Z-6, has pleaded not guilty to two first-degree assault with a deadly weapon charges. George will also answer to a receiving stolen property charge during a probable cause hearing at 10 a.m. Thursday in Salem District Court, according to court staff.

The attack took place around 8 a.m. on Oct. 24 while mother Catherine George was in bed at the Cluff Crossing Road apartment she shared with her son. She told police that Thomas George entered her room "holding a hammer in one hand and a knife in the other" while "demanding his Adderall."

Catherine George told police she gave her son the medication despite the fact that she believed he was "overtaking" his medication, which is why she took it away from him one day earlier. Thomas George — who allegedly threatened to stab his mother after she withheld his medication on Oct. 23 — then "attacked" her by stabbing the right side of her neck, her right hand and left leg, according to Detective Steve A. Woidyla. 

Woidyla said Thomas George also hit his mother on the head with the hammer as she tried to defend herself, later holding her down and telling her to "bleed out, bleed out - just let go," according to Woidyla's affidavit.

Thomas George then fled the scene in his mother's green Kia Sephia before officers arrived, eventually leading police to Derry, where the man dumped the vehicle. As police converged on the area with K9s and search teams, Thomas George reportedly stole a green Chevy Blazer — the keys to which were inside the vehicle — and drove it back to Salem.

Salem Deputy Police Chief Shawn Patten has said police received a tip from a citizen who recognized George from news reports.

George allegedly left the Blazer near the Rockingham Park racetrack and crossed Rockingham Park Boulevard before running through a wooded area behind the Shaw's shopping center and then into his apartment complex around 11:20 a.m. 

An officer who remained at the apartment saw Thomas George approach the building on foot. George wasn't wearing a shirt, was barefoot and had blood on his left foot, according to the affidavit.

He was apprehended without incident, and held on $250,000 cash-only bail following an Oct. 24 arraignment because authorities believe he is a danger to the community.

Catherine George was medflighted to Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital due to her injuries. Her condition is unknown, as the hospital has declined to release information.