Friday, February 18, 2005

Police seek man who attacked club clerk

Victim recovering from major surgery


By MATT FURBER
Express Staff Writer

A desk clerk from Zenergy at Thunder Springs is recovering from major surgery after he was brutally attacked at the club in Ketchum about 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Ketchum and Sun Valley Police responded to a 911 call from the clerk, Ned Burns, 27, who called on his own behalf to report the attack.

"It was such a split second attack," said Burns mother, Lorri Hazen, of Twin Falls, who came to Ketchum to be with her son after she heard about the incident from Burns' fiancée. "Someone came into Zenergy and ran out. I'm not sure if Ned came out from behind the desk. He was struck in the abdomen with something he thinks was a golf club. He is not 100 percent sure what it was."

The attack, by someone described by police as a Caucasian male, 5 feet 9 inches tall, wearing dark clothing and a ski mask, allegedly opened up a large gapping wound in the center of Burns' stomach down into his groin area, Hazen said. "The doctor said it was quite a clean wound."

Surgery involved internal and external stitches. The blow cut through Burns' stomach muscles and he is in great pain, Hazen said.

The unknown assailant is still at large and police are looking for leads, said Ketchum Police Public Affairs Officer Kim Rogers.

"If anybody has any information, however insignificant, they think it might be, if they would pass it on to the police, it would be helpful," Hazen said. "The brutality of the attack is just something that is not going to leave him for a while. That's why we're really anxious to have this person arrested, put in jail and go through a trial. That is something that will ease the emotional part of this."

Rogers said that there are no solid leads in the case.

"We are looking for contacts right now," Rogers said, asking that anyone who might have been near the club between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. contact Ketchum Police at 726-7833, because any information could help the investigation.

"Any leads are very vague," Rogers said.

At this time investigators have released no speculation as to the motive of the crime they are calling aggravated battery, since it involved bodily injury and a weapon.

Tim Gallen, a spokesman in Walnut Springs, Calif., for Wareham Development, the owner and developer of the residential and athletic compound, said police told them it will take a week to assess what is going on.

However, Thursday, a note on the door at Zenergy refers to the event as a something that arose from a "personal situation."

Hazen said Burns has testified to police about his recent activities and said he has tried to give them any information that might help them find a motive for the crime. Hazen said she preferred to let police speak about the direction of the investigation. As of Thursday evening, Ketchum Police had released little detail about the case

"I would like to say that I have appreciated the work of the police and the friends Ned has in this community," Hazen said. "Besides the love of his family, there's a lot of people who are just friends and employees, who have shown a lot of care and support."

In addition to Zenergy, Hazen said Burns works at Grumpy's Burgers & Beer, and that he used to work at Solavie Spa, also in Ketchum.




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