Metro

B’klyn man says hammer attack victims called him a ‘Nazi’

They thought I was a gay Nazi!

That’s the bizarre excuse a Crown Heights man gave cops for a random, near-fatal hammer attack on a pair of pizza-eating Spanish tourists in City Hall Park last month.

“Something inside me snapped,” accused hammer-swinging monster Douglas Epp told cops in a post-arrest confession released today.

“They had some rude words to say, and the ‘Nazi’ term came up on several occasions,” according to the confession, released after Epp pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court to attempted murder.

“That guy called me a Nazi and I just lost it,” Epp claimed of victim Hugo Alejandre, 31, of Spain, who was struck at least ten times on his head and back with the claw end of the hammer. Alejandre’s girlfriend was also injured, as she tried to intercede.

Manhattan prosecutors say Alejandre might have died if not for the help of good Samaritans. Instead, he was treated and released from Bellevue Hospital.

Witnesses told The Post that it was Epp who was shouting “Nazi motherf—-er” at his cowering victim — but Epp claimed to cops it was the other way around.

“They called me gay and a Nazi,” Epp claimed. “This is not my demeanor and I am ashamed that this altercation occurred,” Epp’s confession continued.

“This was clearly not the correct reaction. Let me apologize to the couple, the police, and the court for my erroneous reaction.”

Epp, who had initially given cops the stolen-ID name of a Vancouver chess master named John Charles Yoos, told cops he had come to City Hall Park on July 30 to relax before applying in person for some restaurant jobs. Yoos has said in public accounts that Epp hails from nearby Winnipeg, and that the two were acquaintances some ten years ago.

“I was going to look for employment in the late afternoon,” the confession reads. “I stopped to relax in an area just off Broadway in a park to read the paper and kill some time. I noticed the hammer under the bench near the fence,” he said.

He thought nothing of the hammer at the time, he claimed. The couple sat down about 20 to 30 minutes after he did, he said.

“This European couple was eating pizza and drinking coke,” he said.

“I sat there for a while, then heard the couple next to me talking about me quietly,” he said. “I picked up the hammer. I hit him approximately 10 times with the hammer. I hit him in the head. I am sorry.”

Epp is being held without bail until his next court date, Oct. 30.