A 20-year-old man has been arrested in Greendale, California after ‘attempting to kill’ a 77-year-old woman by hitting her over the head with a shovel while high on bath salts.

Police officers required 40mm rubber bullets and taser guns to arrest Robert William White, who claimed he was an alien and had been communicating directly with Jesus Christ at the time of the attack.

Once arrested, White sat handcuffed in a wheelchair shouting ‘God loves you all’ at bystanders. He was transmitted to a local hospital where he told police he had been drinking soda with bath salts in it.

Police were initially called to the scene on Spazier Avenue in north western Glendale, near Los Angeles, after receiving reports of a man trying to kill an elderly lady with a shovel.

Witnesses told police that the woman had asked White to stop trying to hit birds with the shovel.

Salbi Dgeredzyan, a neighbour speaking to the Glendale News, said White then turned to the woman and said: “I hate you and I want to kill you today”, before hitting her over the head.

White then made off into his nearby apartment building, where he was holed up for around an hour, before police used a key to enter the flat and subdue and arrest him.

“He seemed completely out of sorts,” Northwest Glendale Police Lt. Bruce Fox told the Glendale News.

White was screaming incoherently and “not following orders,” he added. He also allegedly swung twice at an officer, but his punches were blocked.

The woman, whose name wasn't released, was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for what police described as non-life-threatening injuries.

The incident is the latest in a string of bath salt related violence in the US.

Several instances of cannibalistic attacks, including those of a homeless man in Miami having his face chewed off by 31-year old Rudy Eugene, have been linked to the non-addictive but highly toxic drug.