Photo by voteprime.

Photo by voteprime.

A D.C. man who attacked a co-worker with a sledgehammer was sentenced prison for 12 years, U.S. Attorney Ron Machen announced today.

39-year-old Abdul Ewumi was found guilty by a jury last month of assault with intent to kill while armed and aggravated assault while armed. The sentencing stems from an incident that occurred on April 1, 2013 at Ewumi’s place of employment, an auto body shop on Benning Road NE.

According to a release, the incident started when Ewumi requested that the victim repair the transmission of a car. The owner of the car later returned, “complaining that, although the transmission was working properly, the heating system no longer worked.” After the victim denied responsibility for the heating system issue when confronted, Ewumi “became enraged, grabbed the victim by his head, pulled him across the exposed engine of a car the victim was working on, and began punching him in the back of the head.”

A co-worker tried to break them up, but Ewumi continued beating him. After the co-worker split them up, ” the victim threw a screwdriver across the garage, further enraging the defendant,” at which point Equmi grabbed a sledgehammer and “struck the victim in the head four to five times.” The victim reportedly had $50,000 in medical bills from the attack.