GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A man was stabbed in the back inside Gumby’s Pizza near the intersection of Southwest 34th Street and Southwest 20th Avenue, the Gainesville Police Department said. Moments after the victim was found, the suspect called police to report the stabbing, officials said.
Police were called to the restaurant after someone found a man with a stab wound in his lower back. Moments later, the suspect, Hugo Paz Rodriguez, 47, called 911 saying he, “did something bad,” but his whereabouts were unknown.
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An officer later found Rodriguez lying down in the Campus Credit Union parking lot on Southwest 34th Street. Officers said they arrested Rodriguez without incident.
Police said the investigation revealed that Rodriguez walked into the bar area with clear intent to stab the victim.
Police said they found one knife at the scene, but discovered during the investigation that a second knife was used. That knife was found in Rodriguez’s hands when he was arrested, police said.
Police were told the knife found at the scene was taken out of Rodriguez’s hands by 83-year-old Reginald Hannah. Police said Hannah was initially uncooperative and denied taking the knife from Rodriguez, but later admitted that he set it down on the bar and someone else threw it over a nearby fence. Investigators have been unable to find the knife, police said.
Investigators said Rodriguez was upset with the victim over alleged infidelities with his wife and had recently had an incident where he damaged the victim’s car in Alachua County.
Rodriguez is charged with attempted homicide, and Hannah is charged with tampering with evidence.
The victim is expected to recover from his injuries.
