BROWNSTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A man who was staying the night at his friend’s Brownstown Township home woke up, stabbed his friend 20 times without being provoked and then ran into the woods to strip naked, according to police.
UPDATE: Unprovoked stabbing suspect charged with trying to murder coworker
Officials said the attack happened Tuesday morning inside a mobile home in the 25800 block of Bristol Drive. It left a 20-year-old man in critical condition.
The victim lives at the home with his mother and a sibling, police said. His friend, a coworker, stayed the night at the home, according to authorities.
A family member of the victim said the stabbing happened when they woke up to go to work. The victim’s father said the two got into an argument and a fight broke out, but the victim claims the stabbing was completely unprovoked.
Neighbors on Bristol Drive were shocked to learn a young man had been stabbed about 20 times early Tuesday morning.
“I think this is pretty crazy, really,” one neighbor said.
“I haven’t even been to bed yet,” neighbor Brian Bergeson said.
The victim told police his friend woke up and just started stabbing him.
“It doesn’t sound like there was an argument or any kind of confrontation before that,” Brownstown Township police Chief Robert Matthews said. “He just woke up and began stabbing him.”
Police said the attacker then ran from the home, went into the woods and stripped naked.
“He stabbed him, ran out of the house and into the woods and while he was in the woods, stripped himself of his clothing and showed up at one of our local hospitals naked, with some injuries,” Matthews said.
He told hospital workers he had been in a car accident, according to authorities. They didn’t believe him, so they called police. The man was taken into custody.
The victim’s mother and three children were inside the mobile home at the time of the attack, officials said.
“That was my first concern, because I didn’t see them come out at all,” Bergeson said. “I was concerned something had happened to them.”
Authorities said the victim didn’t realize the severity of his injuries. He washed up and walked himself to the ambulance, police said. He didn’t realize how bad the injuries were until they arrived at the hospital.
Additional police officers and K-9 units were brought in to help search for the attacker’s clothes and the weapon in the woods.