POWELL, Ohio — Deputies from the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office were called to the Abbington of Powell Assisted Living Facility Wednesday morning for a report of a stabbing.
Deputies said a resident stabbed two other residents, a married couple, before he was taken into custody and brought to a local hospital for medical evaluation.
Neighbor Karen Atwood was out for a walk with another neighbor and said she saw the moment the suspect was taken into custody.
“It almost looked fake,” she said about the knife the suspect was holding.
She described he was outside the facility holding the knife, and wearing a black ski mask. She said he eventually fell to the ground and a female officer was able to take him into custody. While she stood watching on the sidewalk, she said other officers shouted for her to move away from the scene.
“They saw us. One police officer, he yelled, ‘get out of here, get out of here!’ And of course, you stop dead in your tracks,” she said. “It was very shocking.”
She said it appeared there may have been some type of Halloween celebration happening at the facility because others who came out from the building were wearing costumes.
The injured couple was taken to a local hospital. The man is in critical condition and the woman is described as being stable.
According to the sheriff's office, a "suspicious" fire was reported at the time of the incident, appearing to have originated in the suspect's room. The fire was extinguished by the fire department with minimal damage reported.
Just after noon, all law enforcement had cleared the scene.
We do not know the name of the suspect.