CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – Police arrested a man after a cab driver (an immigrant from Ethiopia) was stabbed in Myers Park.
Akim Lockwood, 25, is in the Mecklenburg County Jail, charged with attempted murder. Police say he stabbed a cab driver on Queens Road East after refusing to pay the fare on Thursday night.
The victim, Melaku Gebreyesus of the Prestige Cab Company, stumbled from his car, and ended-up in the middle of the road. A passerby spotted him and called 911.
Meanwhile, police say Lockwood walked less than a block into the fitness center at Myers Park United Methodist Church. They say he went past workers at the front desk and into the women’s bathroom. When he emerged, workers noticed he was bleeding.
“So they gave him some bandages, and asked how it happened,” said David Pohorence, who manages the fitness center. “He said he cut it on a rock. They thought something was very suspicious.”
Police believe Lockwood cut himself in the assault and was cleaning the blood off and changing shirts in the women’s restroom at the fitness center when workers called 911.
Pohorence said the two college students who made the call were upset by the incident.
“It was pretty traumatic for them. They were really shaken up,” he said.
Police used surveillance video and cameras from the church to help locate the suspect minutes after the attack. They say the students’ quick call may have helped prevent another attack.
At last check on Friday, Gebreyesus was in serious condition.