Woman beaten with lead pipe; Greenacres man held

PALM SPRINGS — A 27-yearold man who authorities say beat a woman with a lead pipe in a liquor store parking lot was arrested Monday after DNA evidence connected him to the scene, the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office said.

Juan Henriquez, of suburban Greenacres, was charged with first-degree attempted murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon for the Jan. 30 incident that left the woman with two plates in her head and blind in one eye, the report said.

Henriquez is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail without bond. He pleaded guilty in 2010 to arson and was on felony probation at the time of the attack, court records show.

According to the sheriff ’s report, the woman who was targeted first encountered Henriquez as she walked through the drive-thru at K&M Beer Depot on Military Trail near Palm Springs. She told investigators that Henriquez became irate after she had cut in front of him in line at the liquor store’s drive-thru window.

According to the sheriff’s report, Henriquez then got out of his vehicle and punched the woman in the face. The woman’s male friend stepped in to defend her, punching and wrestling with Henriquez.

When the fight ended, Henriquez got back in his vehicle, paid for his beer and appeared to leave the area, the woman told investigators.

However, as she walked home with her friend through the store’s back parking lot, Henriquez approached the two from behind and hit the woman in the head with a lead pipe, dislocating her right eye and caving in a portion of her head, the report said.

Henriquez, whom the man and woman said they had never seen before, then fled, investigators say.