JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man was arrested after another man was found downtown with multiple stab wounds and a knife in his head, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Will Stacker, 45, is charged with aggravated battery.
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It happened about 10:30 p.m. Monday at a homeless camp near the intersection of West Beaver Street near North Broad Street -- not far from the Clara White Mission.
A police report reveals multiple witness accounts of the event leading up to the stabbing, but no one claims to have actually seen the stabbing.
According to a nine-page narrative written by different officers who responded to the scene and spoke to multiple witnesses -- including the suspect, who was identified by police as Stacker, and the 39-year-old victim -- an altercation between four people is what led to the stabbing.
The offense report states that when officers arrived, they saw a woman screaming with blood on her face. They also saw a man on the ground with a large knife protruding from his forehead.
One woman, who was identified as a witness, told officers that the man with the knife in his head came to her tent and started tearing it down. According to her version of the incident, she used her cellphone to call 911, but said the man grabbed her phone, threw it down and began to beat her.
According to police, Stacker was described as the woman's husband, but he was later identified as her boyfriend. The woman told officers that Stacker was trying to defend her and that she was holding the knife when the victim ran into it.
Officers spoke to several other witnesses who provided different accounts of what happened. They all said Stacker and the woman were fighting another couple. One of the witnesses told officers he heard two couples arguing over money before things turned physical. The couples were identified by witnesses as Stacker and his girlfriend, and the victim and the victim’s girlfriend.
The report states that witnesses saw the fighting, but no one actually saw the victim being stabbed in the head.
The victim told investigators that Stacker stabbed him, according to the report.
Police noted in their report that the victim was transported to a hospital in critical condition with a knife in his head and a stab wound in his upper right chest. The victim’s condition was later improved from critical to stable.
When police questioned Stacker, he denied having any involvement in the incident and that he was trying to break up a fight between two women. According to the report, officers noticed Stacker was injured and had blood on this clothing. He told officers he was injured when a man pushed him down as he was trying to break up the women from fighting. The report also states that when asked why the victim had a knife in his head, Stacker’s reply was that he never saw the victim until he noticed the victim on the ground injured.
Stacker was also taken to the hospital, along with his girlfriend, to be treated for injuries, police said.
He was later arrested and booked early Tuesday morning into the Duval County jail, where he remained on $500,000 bond as of Friday, online jail records show.