BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Police in Bloomington have arrested a man for stabbing another man over New Year's weekend in a downtown alley.
On Saturday, Jan. 7, police arrested 36-year-old Ryan Johnson of Bloomington for attempted murder, aggravated battery and battery with a deadly weapon.
Officers were called to the 200 block of South College Avenue around 1:20 a.m. Jan. 1 and found a 32-year-old man with a significant injury to his abdomen consistent with a knife wound.
Before the man was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, he told officers that he had interacted with a man, later identified on surveillance video as Johnson, earlier in the evening of the stabbing. The victim did not know Johnson prior to seeing him on College Avenue, but asked Johnson if he could touch his hair. Johnson reportedly refused, but the victim told police he touched Johnson's hair anyway, then apologized before the two separated.
Later in the night, the victim was in the east/west alleyway that accesses College Avenue, south of Kirkwood Avenue, when Johnson approached him and stabbed him with a knife, then ran off.
The victim walked back to College Avenue and asked for a bystander to call 911. The bystander told police he had seen a man walking in the alley and holding a knife.
The victim needed emergency surgery, but survived.
Investigators reviewed security camera footage from the area and also from The Atlas Ballroom. The suspect was located on video prior to the stabbing inside The Atlas Ballroom and was immediately identified by name by an employee of the bar, police said.
Johnson was seen on video walking east in the alleyway just prior to the stabbing wearing the same clothing as described by the victim.
On Jan. 7, police stopped Johnson's car near Country Club Drive and South Madison Street in Bloomington and arrested him without incident.
He had not been formally charged as of Sunday, according to court records.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Bloomington Police Detective Jon Muscato at 812-339-4477.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to show Johnson does not work at Atlas Ballroom, but was identified by an employee there.
