Man Wanted for Stabbing Surrenders

Victim remains in hospital

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By Brendan Joel Kelley
Bio | Email By Kirsten Swann

Story Created: Jan 30, 2012 at 11:06 AM AKDT

Story Updated: Jan 30, 2012 at 11:06 AM AKDT

Anchorage police say a Mountain View man remains in the hospital after a knife fight early Sunday morning. The suspect, 21-year-old Richard Smith, surrendered to Anchorage police Sunday evening at 9 p.m.

A woman in a residence on the 800 block of North Flower Street first called police around 2:30 a.m., saying an unknown man had collapsed on her front porch.

When paramedics arrived, they found 56-year-old Thomas Atkinson, Jr. suffering from multiple stab wounds to his back.

He told police he had been drinking at his home on the 700 block of North Flower Street with his girlfriend when they were joined by 21-year-old Richard Smith and one of Smith’s friends.

Witnesses later told police a fight between Atkinson and Smith had escalated when Smith produced a knife and began to stab the older man repeatedly.

Police still don’t know what caused the fight.

“We do know that everybody was drinking a lot of alcohol, and so that was an issue,” said APD spokesman Lt. Dave Parker. “The woman who was the neighbor, who Mr. Atkinson ended up collapsing on her doorstep, she thought he had had a heart attack."

Smith is scheduled to be arraigned at 2:30 p.m. Monday.

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