MOBILE, Ala. — Mobile police responded to at least four separate cutting incidents over the weekend, according to Mobile Police Department news releases, and were still searching Monday for a suspect accused of attacking a man with a machete early Sunday in the area of Tillmans Corner.
Machete Attack, Attempted Bike Theft on Highway 90
Police say the most serious of the weekend incidents happened around 4 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 9, in a shopping center parking lot in the 5400 block of Highway 90 West. According to police spokesman Blake Brown, a bicyclist was approached by an unknown man who engaged him in an argument before pulling out a machete and swinging it at him, cutting the victim near his eye and on his arm.
“The subject pulled out a machete and started swinging it at this individual,” Brown said. The confrontation escalated when the suspect tried to steal the victim’s bicycle. “The subject pulled the machete back out and tried to steal his bicycle,” Brown said, while continuing to threaten the victim.
The victim was treated at a local hospital and released. Investigators have not identified a suspect and say they’ve found no evidence the two men knew each other, nor any clear motive for the attack. No surveillance footage from the area has been recovered. Police are asking nearby business owners with security cameras, and anyone with information, to come forward.
Domestic Cutting at Cambridge West Bridge Apartments
Just hours earlier, around 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, officers were called to a local hospital after a man arrived with minor injuries stemming from an incident at Cambridge West Bridge Apartments, 7561 Ziegler Boulevard. The man told police a woman he knew cut him during an argument in the complex’s parking lot. Police are investigating the case as domestic violence and second-degree assault.
Argument Turns Violent at Hounds Run Apartments
On Sunday afternoon, around 4 p.m., another man went to a local hospital with minor injuries after being cut during an altercation at Hounds Run Apartments, 5954 Sperry Road. Police say another man cut him during the dispute. That investigation is also ongoing.
Arrest Made in Meadow Wood Curve Cutting
Police did make one arrest tied to the weekend’s cutting cases. Officers were called to a local hospital Sunday after a man arrived with non-life-threatening injuries, telling officers he’d been cut by another man during a fight at a home in the 4000 block of Meadow Wood Curve. Mobile resident Carey Franklin, 30, was arrested and booked into Mobile Metro Jail on a second-degree assault charge just before 10 p.m. Sunday.
Anyone With Information Asked to Come Forward
Investigations remain open in all three unsolved cases. Mobile police ask anyone with information to call 251-208-7211, submit an anonymous tip by texting 844-251-0644, or visit mobilepd.org/crimetip.