Ex-boyfriend repeatedly stabs star Florida high school softball player before cutting own throat

Four people are in hospital after the ex-boyfriend of a high school softball star stabbed her and her mother in a frenzied broad-daylight attack in front of a restaurant, before attacking a passer-by who dragged him off her, and then cutting his own throat.

Madison Schemitz, a 17-year-old student at Ponte Vedra High School, was having lunch on Saturday in the town with her mother Jackie Roge and a friend.

The group spotted Schemitz’s ex-boyfriend, 18-year-old Spencer Pearson, a recent graduate of the school and a former football player.

Schemitz had recently broken up with him, and he had threatened her with violence over several months: Roge was trying to get a restraining order taken out against him.

Madison Schemitz, 17, is pictured with her then-boyfriend Spencer Pearson, 18. On Saturday he attacked her, her mother, and a person who tried to save the women

Pearson posted gushing tributes to Schemitz on his social media

Pearson was a high school football star, who recently graduated

First responders are pictured on the scene of Saturday’s stabbing

The group, worried, left the restaurant in a hurry – but on leaving, they were confronted by Pearson.

Casey Estep, who was having lunch with Schemitz and her mother, said Roge was one of her best friends.

‘She’s like my soulmate as a sister, per se, as a friend,’ she told News4Jax.

It was Estep who first spotted Pearson.

‘I saw a boy get up that had the same school logo on, I was like, ‘Oh, he must go to the same school,” said Estep. 

‘They were like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to go.’

They asked for the check and tried to quietly leave, but before Estep could finish cashing out, she says the boy took off running toward the other three in the parking lot.

‘She did what any mother would and put herself in harm’s way,’ said Estep.

Pearson stabbed Schemitz and her mother outside Mr. Chubby’s Wings on Valley Circle, and their screams alerted Kennedy Armstrong, 23.

Pearson held Schemitz’s arm and stabbed her at least 15 times.

Her mother was stabbed in the leg and forehead, deputies said.

Armstrong told News4Jax said he saw a man on top of a woman on the sidewalk ‘pounding down on her chest’. 

He said he could not see if the man had a knife or was just using his fist, but he ran to the scene and knocked the man off the woman. 

Pearson then turned on Armstrong, severing an artery in his arm.

The teenager then slashed his own throat in a suicide attempt.

All four were taken to hospital. 

Jackie Roge, the mother of Madison Schemitz (left), was seriously injured in Saturday’s attack, as was a passer-by who helped, Kennedy Armstrong (right)

Schemitz is seen (far right) with her five siblings

Schemitz was a star of the softball team at Ponte Vedra High School, in a suburb of Jacksonville

Schemitz suffered deep cuts to her spine and required multiple surgeries.

Her mother on Monday wrote on their GoFundMe page: ‘I am about to go into surgery, my muscles were severed from the bone on my hand. 

‘Madison has 2 chest tubes and a spinal cord injury but she’s a fighter, just please continue praying for her.’ 

Armstrong requires surgery to reconnect nerves and an artery, and attempt to repair some scarring. 

Pearson remains in critical condition: if he survives, will face multiple felonies, including attempted murder.