Mobile police are searching for a man who allegedly attacked someone with a machete and tried to steal his bicycle early Sunday morning — one of four cutting incidents officers worked across a single weekend.
According to the Mobile Police Department, an unidentified man swung a machete at a male victim and attempted to steal his bicycle in the 5400 block of Highway 90 West before dawn Sunday. The victim later walked into a police precinct and reported the incident at around 4 a.m.
“It was discovered an unknown male subject cut the victim with a machete in the 5400 block of Highway 90 West,” MPD said. “The subject attempted to steal the victim’s bike while continuing to swing a machete at the victim.”
As of Monday morning, police were still looking for the suspect.
A Weekend of Cuttings
The machete attack was not the only cutting case MPD worked over the weekend. Officers responded to three other incidents involving victims who had been cut.
On Friday, Aug. 7, at about 10 p.m., officers were called to a local hospital in reference to an assault. A male victim there had non-life-threatening injuries stemming from an earlier incident at the Cambridge West Bridge Apartments on Ziegler Boulevard. “Officers discovered a known female subject cut the victim in the parking lot during an argument,” MPD said. The case is being investigated as domestic violence and second-degree assault.
On Sunday, a man showed up at a local hospital with minor injuries from a cutting at the Hounds Run Apartments on Sperry Road. Officers interviewed the victim at around 4 p.m. That incident is being investigated as a second-degree assault.
Officers did make one arrest connected to the weekend’s violence. Mobile resident Carey Franklin, 30, was arrested and charged with allegedly assaulting and cutting a man in the 4000 block of Meadow Wood Curve during an argument. According to Mobile County Metro Jail records, Franklin was booked into jail just before 10 p.m. Sunday and charged with second-degree assault.
Knives and Edged Weapons in Assault Cases
Cutting cases occupy a specific place in Alabama criminal law. A second-degree assault charge typically applies when a person intentionally causes physical injury with a dangerous instrument — a category that includes knives and, as alleged in the Highway 90 case, a machete. When a victim’s injuries become life-threatening or permanent, prosecutors can escalate to first-degree assault, a Class B felony carrying a potential 20-year sentence.
When the weapon is wielded during an attempted theft, as police allege happened in the bicycle case, additional charges such as attempted robbery can attach, depending on what investigators develop.
The weekend’s caseload illustrates a persistent pattern in Mobile’s incident logs: cuts and stabbings, often between people who know each other, clustered around late-night hours, apartment complexes and the commercial corridors along Highway 90.
How to Help
Police are asking for the public’s help identifying the machete suspect. Anyone with information about the Highway 90 West attack — or any of the weekend’s cutting cases — can contact the Mobile Police Department at 251-208-7211.
Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous can contact Mobile Area Crime Stoppers, which accepts anonymous tips by phone, through its mobile app and online, and pays cash rewards for information that leads to an arrest.
For the victim who walked into a precinct at 4 a.m., the bicycle was spared. The search for the man who swung the machete continues.