An 18-year-old was charged with attempted murder Thursday, accused of critically injuring two fellow residents of a St. Paul youth shelter in a hammer attack.

A staff member at the Booth Brown House Youth Shelter and Housing Program on Como Avenue near Pascal Street called 911 about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday to report an assault.

Demonte Tyvell King opened the door for officers, held out both his hands in a handcuffing gesture and said he was ready to go the juvenile detention center. Officers saw blood on his forearm and that he was covered in a fine spray of blood and arrested him.

Officers found a 21-year-old man screaming and lying on his stomach next to his bed in a semiconscious state and in a pool of blood. There was blood spatter on the walls and above the beds.

Another man, also 21, was at the far end of the room. He was beneath a comforter, unresponsive, “appeared to be in immense pain” and there was brain matter on his bed, the criminal complaint said.

Officers provided the men with medical attention until St. Paul Fire Department medics took both of them to the hospital. One man has multiple skull factures and medical staff was concerned about major blood loss. The other man was intubated and staff told police he would undergo neurosurgery to address his skull and brain injuries.

“They are expected to survive, but the extent of their brain injuries is not known at this time,” the complaint said.

A Booth Brown employee told police that King had been staying there for several months “and had serious mental health issues,” the complaint said, adding that the employee also said: “King had never before been violent, but he had a lot of issues with sexually predatory behaviors.”

There was an altercation earlier in the week and staff put King in a different bedroom by himself.

A witness said he’d shared a room at the facility with King and the two victims. He said he woke to King exiting the bathroom, sitting on his former bed and looking at one of the men, who was in his own bed and didn’t say anything or move. King stood over the man and hit his head with a hammer, the witness reported.

King then went to the other victim’s bed and said, “So you want to be gay” and the witness ran away, the complaint said. He didn’t see the assault of the other man.

King told investigators “he was getting antagonized,” that he believed one of the men was bullying him and he said the other man followed him to the bathroom, which he interpreted as the man “coming on to him sexually.” He said he got the hammer a couple of days earlier for his protection.

King said he hit one of the men about four times as he slept. He said he hit the other man, who woke up, 10 times in the head. King said he was still mad at one of the men and the other man “only got what he deserved.”

King told police he hadn’t used drugs or alcohol. He said he is schizophrenic, but hadn’t been taking his medication for about a month, according to the complaint.

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In addition to the attempted murder charges, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged King with first-degree assault motivated by bias. The count says he inflicted great bodily harm on one of the men “in whole or in substantial part because of the victim’s … actual or perceived … sexual orientation.” King is scheduled to make his first court appearance in the case on Friday.

The Salvation Army, which runs the Booth Brown House, is cooperating with law enforcement officials, said spokesman Dan Furry.

“This was an isolated incident, and the rest of our program participants are safe,” he said in a statement. “We will continue serving, without interruption, the youth who have nowhere else to go. … Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who were impacted by this incident.”