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The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a stabbing involving two men at a motel in St. Augustine.
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office is reporting a stabbing involving two men in St. Augustine Friday.
SJSO says the stabbing happened at the Superman 8 Motel on State Road 16.
SWAT came to the area due to the possibility of a barricaded suspect at Stayable Extended Stay Suites; however, they cleared the area.
SJSO is investigating aggravated battery at both hotels. They do not believe there is a threat to the public.
Police tell First Coast News they are looking for one person who is involved, but that they are not deemed a suspect at this time.
Christian Lewis, who knows both men involved, said he learned about the stabbing from his mother.
“He started to argue with the victim and just ran up on him and stabbed him in the abdomen,” Lewis said.
The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office dispatched a SWAT unit after receiving information that the suspect had barricaded himself across the street at the Stayable Extended Stay Suites, where Lewis is a resident.
“He lives directly above me, and I have my children with me in the apartment, so I was concerned that he might try to come into my room to seek refuge or for other reasons, without me being aware of the situation and inadvertently letting him in,” Lewis explained. “There was a chance he might hold me or my kids hostage or something terrifying like that.”
Lewis and other residents said they were terrified during the incident.
“I was uncertain about my family’s safety,” he added. “I had doubts about the safety of the families in the units above us too. I overheard authorities instructing other families to place their children under the bed and similar precautions. As a new father, one of my greatest fears is having anything happen to my kids.”
Lewis added the man injured was someone he trusted around his family.
“Nothing that I would have ever expected,” Lewis said. “I let him around my kids, my 8-month-old baby. He’s watched her for me within the past two days. It just would’ve never seen it coming.”
Reflecting on the violence, Lewis has a message for the man involved.
“This is sad,” Lewis said. “They’re gonna see this one day when they go to look up their grandfather and it’s just not gonna be okay. I’m gonna have to explain it to them one day.”
