Hillside Stabbing Suspect Charged

DULUTH, Minn. – A man faces 2nd Degree Assault charges, for a seemingly unprovoked stabbing in a Hillside neighborhood apartment last week, according to court documents.

24-year-old Lewis Barney Jr. is charged with 2nd Degree Assault with a deadly weapon after police say he stabbed a sleeping man.

Police were called to 115 E 3rd St Apartments around 12:00 pm Thursday, for reports of stabbing, and arrived to find a chaotic scene.

According to the police report, officers went inside Apartment #2 and found several people holding bloody towels over what appeared to be stab wounds on the victim’s neck. The male victim was lying on top of another person, whom officers later identified as Barney. The report said that Barney was being “pinned down” by people in the apartment to stop the stabbing. Before the victim was taken to the hospital, he told officers that he had been asleep when the stabbing began.

Police learned from the people in the apartment, that Barney had been acting “out of control” all day. According to them, Barney broke multiple objects in the unit and was seen walking around with a kitchen knife. Witnesses said that they saw Barney tip over a fridge when he went into the kitchen, but nobody saw or heard any altercation between him and the victim. When one of the witnesses went to put the fridge upright, they saw the victim struggling with Barney.

The victim reportedly shouted, “Help he is trying to kill me.”

Officers found a pillow and blanket, covered in blood, in the kitchen where the victim said he was sleeping.