Police: Ax Handle Attack Leaves One Homeless Man Hospitalized, Another Jailed

An attack with a wooden ax handle outside a Tarpon Springs convenience store left one homeless man hospitalized with serious head injuries and another facing attempted murder charges, authorities said Wednesday, and a customer is credited with helping to capture the suspect.

Tarpon Springs Police were dispatched to the EZ Stop & Shop, 23 S. Walton Ave., shortly before 3:30 p.m. Wednesday after receiving a 911 call about a fight.

When they arrived they found Brian C. Kennedy, 55, lying on the ground in the parking lot and bleeding profusely from his head.

According to witnesses, another homeless man, James O. Knott, 49, had come up behind Kennedy as he was sitting on the sidewalk in front of the store and struck him in the head with a three-foot wooden ax handle, "swinging the weapon as if it were a baseball bat," Tarpon Springs Police Capt. Jeffrey P. Young said.

Kennedy fell forward, and Knott reportedly "struck the victim again in an overhead motion with the weapon," Young said. The suspect then dropped the weapon and fled on foot.

A customer at the store, identified as 59-year-old Mark Tucker of Tarpon Springs, chased down the suspect and caught him near the Florida National Bank next door, where he held the man on the ground until police arrived and took him into custody, Young said.

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Kennedy was treated at the scene by Tarpon Springs Fire Rescue before being taken to Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point in Pasco County with serious, possibly life threatening, injuries, authorities said.

Police say Knott admitted to striking the victim in what he called self defense after Kennedy had pulled a box cutter on him earlier in the day. "Officers did not locate any box cutter on the victim or near the scene of the crime, nor did any witnesses report seeing one at anytime," Young said.

"Alcohol appears to have played a part in this incident," Young also noted.

Knott was charged with attempted murder and was being taken to Pinellas County Jail, Young said.