GPD: Man stabs another man at party

Gainesville Police arrested a suspect in a stabbing at Village Crossing Apartments on Tuesday.

Malcolm Ontrell Lawson, 44, was visiting the apartment, located at 501 SE 18th St., when he got into an argument with another visitor at about 4 a.m., according to an arrest report. When the fight became physical, witnesses broke the two men up and the other visitor left the apartment.

The fight occurred during a party at the apartment, GPD spokesperson Officer Ben Tobias wrote in an email.

A witness told police Lawson followed the man he had fought with out of the apartment and came at him with the knife, causing the man to fall.

The man kicked Lawson as he raised his knife and Lawson fell, according to the report. The two men wrestled on the ground before Lawson stabbed the man twice, the witness told police.

Witnesses used a mop handle to pin down Lawson’s knife-wielding hand until he dropped the weapon and fled the scene, according to the report.

When officers and emergency medical services arrived, they found witnesses providing medical care to the man, Tobias said. The man was admitted to UF Health Shands Hospital with two knife wounds, one 3 inches deep and the other 1 and a half inch deep, and is expected to survive.

Police found Lawson after he called 911 requesting medical assistance for a deep cut on his right hand he got during the fight, according to the report. Police arrested him at Shands on charges of aggravated battery, and Lawson told police the other man attacked him, and he stabbed him in self-defense.

Lawson was taken to the Alachua County Jail on Tuesday morning where he remains, as of press time, in lieu of a $25,000 bond for the aggravated battery charge and a $525 bond for previous charges of withholding child support.