Several People Hospitalized Following String of Stabbings

Several People Hospitalized Following String of Stabbings


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John Hollenhorst and Gene Kennedy ReportingA victim turns the tables on his attackers! One of the suspects in a brutal attack in Tooele is hospitalized with serious injuries.

This was a weekend with an unusually high number of stabbings. In two cases, a suspect wound up in the hospital -- one after being stabbed, another after being bitten by a police dog.

The three stabbing incidents are apparently unrelated.

The first was Saturday night in West Valley City, when a victim walked into a neighbor's home and collapsed with multiple stab wounds.

Several People Hospitalized Following String of Stabbings

In two incidents Sunday afternoon, the suspects themselves wound up with injuries.

Two men allegedly attacked a third man at a Maverik store in Midvale. Police say it was gang-related. The victim was hospitalized with knife wounds.

One suspect also went to the hospital with wounds inflicted by a police dog.

Several People Hospitalized Following String of Stabbings

Sgt. Kimberly Burgon/ Midvale Police Dept.: "I encountered two suspect a little bit later. They ran on foot. One suspect was apprehended by use of the canine, and was bit by the canine."

Another suspect got away and is still on the loose this morning.

Several People Hospitalized Following String of Stabbings

An apparently unrelated stabbing incident shook up a neighborhood in Tooele. Witnesses say a man was arguing with someone on the telephone a few minutes before the attackers arrived.

The man was in his yard when a car pulled up. Four people started arguing with him.

Chief Ron Kirby/Tooele Police Dept.: "There was an argument. They hopped over the fence and attacked him."

Vanessa Valdez/ Neighbor: "Jumped over the fence. Then I heard a bunch of yelling. Then I saw them beating the crap out of some guy. I don't know why."

The man was badly beaten, but witnesses say he managed to wrestle the knife from one of his attackers and stabbed them.

Several People Hospitalized Following String of Stabbings

Anthony Castellano/Neighbor: "Somehow the attacker lost the knife. It only lasted 30 or 40 seconds."

Vanessa Valdez/ Neighbor: "Then both of them jumped back over the fence. One of them was really bloody from the head and the arm. Then they took off."

Scott Herridge/ Neighbor: "I guess he got pretty messed up, the one that jumped the fence."

So two people went to the hospital, both with serious injuries. Police haven't arrested anyone yet. They're investigating whether this was drug-related.

One witness said he felt like he was back home in Riverside, California.

Anthony Castellano/Neighbor: "I moved here to get away from the city life and all the troubles, and the shootings and the stabbings and the gangs. So I moved out here. Then a week later I see this."

Rusty Jones, 24, was hospitalized with stab wounds. Police say he and Andrew Fletcher likely will be charged with criminal trespass and assault.

The man they attacked, Eli Martinez, was released from a hospital.

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