PALM COAST, Fla. – A 22-year-old man from Palm Coast was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after stabbing a man after a religious debate, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
On Sunday, just before midnight, the deputies went to a Palm Coast residence after two men reported a violent assault that occurred at a gas station on Palm Harbor Parkway.
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Deputies said they found a man holding a blood-soaked cloth over his neck. He had sustained multiple lacerations to his neck and back, and a deep puncture wound on his left side.
Deputies provided life-saving measures to prevent further blood loss until Flagler County Fire Rescue arrived and transported him to a hospital for medical treatment.
The other victim said he wasn’t stabbed but was struck by the suspect’s fists multiple times. Officials said he appeared to have a large contusion on his lower right back and a bruise on his right side.
Deputies said at around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, the two men ridden their electric bicycles to the gas station where they encountered the suspect sitting at a picnic bench outside.
The suspect struck up a conversation with them and the topic turned to religion, according to officials.
The suspect became upset, and the conversation turned into a heated debate. The men told investigators the suspect began hitting one of them after he attempted to de-escalate the situation and then stabbed the other. Officials said the man fled through a wooded area behind the gas station after the fight.
The victims told police they rode their electric bikes back to the house to assess their injuries and called 911.
The wooded area was searched but deputies couldn’t find the suspect that evening. FCSO used its Real Time Crime Center to identify and arrest the man at his home Monday afternoon.
He was charged with two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and he was taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility where he is being held on $300,000 bond.
“You don’t solve disagreements by attacking someone,” Sheriff Rick Staley said. “When people talk religion or politics, often someone gets offended, but getting your feelings hurt doesn’t give you the right to physically harm someone else. I’m glad this hot head was quickly apprehended, and he is now at the Green Roof Inn.”