Police Seek More Info on Playground Stabbing

City police have little to go on in their search for suspects involved in a fight on Friday night which left one person with serious stab wounds. The reason for the current dead-end in the investigation: the victim is either unable or unwilling to share crucial details of the altercation with police. 

"I think it's safe to state that we are not receiving much cooperation at this point in our investigation," said Fredericksburg Police Department spokesperson Natatia Bledsoe in a phone interview. "At this point, we are not quite certain what happened."

The incident occurred late at night on Friday, June 17. As near as police are able to piece together the incident, they say the victim told them that he was trying to attempt to break up a fight between two men at the Dr. W.L. Harris Playground at around 11:30 p.m. After the fight, the victim discovered he had suffered a serious wound to his abdomen and was quickly driven to the hospital. 

Police first learned of the stabbing after receiving a call around 11:45 p.m. on Friday from staff at the emergency room of Mary Washington Hospital. They were treating a 38-year-old man who had suffered a significant stab wound to his abdomen. 

Police arrived shortly before the victim was taken into emergency survey, where he was initially interviewed, albeit briefly. Later, after surgery, the victim was able to provide police with a little bit of additional information, but not much. According to police, the victim did not know the names or identities of any of his attackers or potential witnesses. Police say the man didn't even know the name of the person who drove him to the hospital. Beyond the race of the two assailants, listed as african-american, police have no identifying details for the suspects. 

"It's somewhat unusual that he was unable to provide us with any solid identities of any of the parties involved," said Bledsoe. "We would love to have some assistance with this. If anyone wants to speak with a detective or a police officer anonymously, we would like to talk with them."

Detective Doug Perkins is handling the investigation for the city. He can be reached at 540-654-5758.