The assault happened around 6:30 a.m. on the 1200 block of Terra Hill Drive near a DART bus stop outside of the Lighthouse Hill Apartments in Edgemoor, Delaware.
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The victim was beaten so badly, in what police said was an unprovoked attack, that he was rushed to Christiana Hospital in critical condition.
Police retrieved the weapon and arrested 29-year-old Rafael Murillo a short time later on Governor Printz Boulevard.
He was charged with attempted murder in connection with the attack.
Neighbors who live nearby said they heard sirens but couldn't make out what had happened.
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"I heard when the ambulance came and I got up and looked out the window and I said, 'Something's happened at the bus stop,'" Sandra Hartwell told Action News. "It was shocking to me, because like I said I've been here since 1981 on this corner, and ain't nothing ever happened down here."
Investigators with the New Castle County Police Department were out canvassing the scene for evidence and appeared to collect a blood sample from the ground.
Virginia Daniels, who has lived at the Lighthouse Hill Apartments for 20 years, was dismayed to learn that an assault happened only a few feet away from her home.
She described the neighborhood as tight-knit and said people usually get along with one another.
"It was kind of horrible. We was scared and stuff. You know, didn't know what was going on," Daniels said.
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"This was the first time anybody had seen anything like this for so many years," she added.
Phillip Jones expressed a similar sentiment as he waited for a bus near where the assault took place.
"(Assaults) don't happen around here like that. It had to be something," he said.
An investigation remains ongoing.