Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was released from Froedtert Hospital Monday afternoon after being in the hospital for a day and a half following a serious attack.  A man attacked the mayor with a metal pipe as the mayor tried to assist a grandmother screaming for help near the Wisconsin State Fair.

Barrett's brother, John Barrett, said Monday that his brother had gashes on his head and face, a shattered tooth, two teeth knocked out and a shattered hand.

Barrett's office says the mayor is resting comfortably at home and will continue his recovery there.  In a statement, the mayor says he wants to thank all those who have reached out with messages of concern and good wishes.

Among the well wishers, President Obama.  The White House says the President called Mayor Barrett Monday afternoon to make sure he was on the mend and commended him for his bravery. 

"Seeing him last night, he looked like he made a lot of progress," said the mayor's brother, John.  From the time I saw him Saturday night - it was like 'holy mackarel, look at this' - to yesterday, it was like, 'ah, he looks pretty normal.'  He's got this big bandage on his arm.  I think he's coming around pretty fast.  He must be a quick healer." 

Quick enough to be able to joke with his colleagues and enjoy a frozen custard shake.

"For sure. We're a family that likes our sweets, unfortunately. He very much loved the Gillies' shake. That was a special treat for him."

The Milwaukee County District Attorney's office will review the case against an arrested suspect, Anthony J. Peters, 20, this week.

The mayor had gone to the fair on Saturday night with his sister, two daughters and a niece. As the group left and walked to Barrett's car, they heard a woman screaming for someone to call 911, police said.

Police said the woman was a grandmother who was trying to protect her 1-year-old granddaughter from a 20-year-old man, an assault authorities characterized as a domestic dispute.

"The mayor stopped and said something (to the man) like, 'Let's all cool down here, I'm going to call 911,"' the mayor's spokesman Patrick Curley said. "He said it one or two times according to him. When he took out his phone, that's when the suspect attacked him."

The suspect grabbed the Mayor's cell phone, threw it on the ground, told the Mayor he had a gun, and ordered the Mayor to the ground, according to John Barrett.  He also said that the Mayor chose to defend himself.

Peters then reportedly hit Barrett in the head and torso with a metal pipe. Barrett apparently fought back, fracturing his hand when he punched the suspect.

"He starts hitting on Tom, very, very hard," said John Barrett to TODAY'S TMJ4 HD's Melanie Stout. 

"He shattered one of Tom's teeth out of the base, and a couple of the teeth were knocked out.  He has a significant cut on his face, and he'll need plastic surgery on the bottom part.  He has needed staples in the back of his head, and his arm has needed extensive surgery.  They had to do three hours of surgery on his arm."

"I think he hit the guy," Curley said. "I don't know where, but it was hard enough, whatever he hit, to fracture his hand."

The suspect fled the area when he heard sirens. He was arrested 13 hours later at 17th and State on Milwaukee's near west side. He was sleeping and the people he was staying with turned him in.

Police recovered the alleged weapon.

The woman and baby were uninjured.

Meanwhile, a neighborhood that's described as normally a quiet place is in shock, and people there and around Milwaukee are saddened and praying for the Mayor.

"It's unfortunate," said Kim Jackson, who lives in Milwaukee. "The Mayor is doing exactly what I would have done.  You want to help people in your neighborhood."

Barrett, 55, suffered a fractured hand and other head and hand wounds, official said.

The hand injuries, according to his brother, have to do with the mayor possibly fighting back against the attacker.

"That's my understanding is that he may have tried to fight back."

Peters, is 20 years old. Police Chief Edward Flynn described Peters as having a lengthy criminal record that includes a weapons arrest and drug offenses.

Chief Flynn said authorities had no reason to believe Peters knew it was the mayor he was attacking. Police said the suspect was intoxicated at the time, had wanted to see his daughter and had threatened to shoot himself and others.

Peters posted a message on his MySpace page around 3:30 Sunday morning, after the Barrett incident. "Every life has a story and mines finally going to end with me in prison or in the grave."

Peters has not yet been charged, but the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office will review the case against him this week.

The attack happened in the 8700 block of W. Orchard Street.

Neighbor Kim Zaja was shock when she found out it was the mayor who was attacked. "We seen one guy down on the sidewalk in a pool of blood. And then we told police we think that the other guy jumped over the fence and headed that way. It was a domestic thing," Zaja said.

The mayor, who did not ask for security to accompany him to the fair because he wasn't on official duty, underwent successful surgery Sunday on his fractured right hand and also had cuts on his head and lip stitched up, Curley said. The mayor likely will remain in the hospital through Monday, he said.

The mayor's brother, John Barrett, said the family was optimistic about the mayor's recovery.

"We're extremely proud of Tom's selflessness and his courage," John Barrett said, fighting back tears at a news conference.

Gov. Jim Doyle said he also visited Barrett at the hospital Sunday morning and found him in "good spirits and looking good considering what happened."

"The mayor's heroic actions clearly saved a woman and others from harm," Doyle said in a statement.

The mayor was feeling good enough Sunday afternoon to enjoy a chocolate malt from Gilles Frozen Custard.

Under the city's line of succession, Common Council President Willie Hines would take command if the mayor were incapacitated. Curley said he briefed Hines but didn't expect a transfer of power would be necessary because Barrett "is engaged, he's conversational."

Barrett was already planning to take this week off for a family vacation, Curley said.

The mayor's only regret about the incident is that his family was there to witness what happened, Curley said.

"He said it was hard because his kids and niece were there at the time of the incident," Curley said. "He knew he had to (intervene). It was the right thing to do."

Barrett was elected Milwaukee mayor in 2004 and re-elected last year with nearly 80 percent of the vote. He also served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1992 to 2002. His name also has begun circulating as a possible Democratic candidate for governor in 2010 after Doyle scheduled a news conference for Monday, reportedly to announce he will not seek a third term.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)