HOWARD COUNTY, Ind. — A 20-year-old man staying with his grandparents in Howard County is in jail for allegedly stabbing a man with a box knife in an alley Tuesday night.
Around 9:30 p.m. on July 18, officers responded to a report of man who had been stabbed in the neck in an alley in the 200 block of South Hunt Street, near State Road 22 and County Road 900 East, in Greentown.
Officers arrived to the scene and found a man, later identified as 48-year-old Ryan Cummins, of Greentown, who had a stab wound in his neck.
Cummins told officers he was riding his bike in the alley when another man, later identified as 20-year-old Justin A. Crow Jr., of Jonesboro, Tennessee, approached him and pepper sprayed him in the face.
Cummins said he fought back and hit Crow at least once in self-defense.
According to Cummins, Crow then stabbed him in the neck and said he was going to kill him.
After Cummins fell to the ground, he said Crow stood over him and asked him his name, to which he responded "Ryan."
Crow then allegedly said "wrong guy" and ran away.
Cummins told police he had never met the man who stabbed him prior to the incident.
Medics took Cummins to a hospital, and his condition is not known at this time.
While officers were searching the area, a person matching the suspect's description went to a hospital for treatment around 10:30 p.m.
Using a photo, witnesses positively identified Crow as the suspect, although he wasn't wearing the same clothes.
Officers obtained a search warrant for a home in Greentown, where Crow was staying with his grandparents. Officers said they found evidence related to the crime at the home.
According to the Howard County Sheriff's Office, Crow changed his statement on the incident multiple times but at the end of the interview, Crow said Cummins called him a name and that it "triggered him."
Crow then allegedly admitted to cutting Cummins in the neck with a box knife and telling him he was going to kill him because he is "just done with people."
Officers took Crow to the Howard County Jail, where he was booked on a preliminary charge of attempted murder.
Anyone with additional information on the incident is asked to call Detective Shirey at 765-614-3449 or by submitting a tip online. www.sheriff.howardcountyin.gov.
Howard County is roughly 60 miles north of downtown Indianapolis.