A man visiting the Ukiah area from New York was stabbed Wednesday evening in the Home Depot parking lot, the Ukiah Police Department reported.
According to the UPD, the victim, described only as a 23-year-old New York man visiting the area with two friends, was sitting inside a rental car at the business in the 300 block of North Orchard Avenue around 6:50 p.m. April 24. The victim and his friends, also from New York, were reportedly recording “a rap video on their cell phones, smoking marijuana and flashing large amounts of cash for the video” while sitting inside a white Jeep Grand Cherokee.
The group said they were suddenly “rammed by a white truck and attacked by up to 10 Hispanic males.” The victim said he exited the vehicle and was stabbed several times while the other two men drove off, leaving him behind. The victim then ran into the store to escape his attackers and ask for help.
While on Highway 101 near Calpella, the driver of the Cherokee then flagged down a California Highway Patrol Officer, and later described the incident to UPD officers, who report that none of the victims could identify their attackers and “gave minimal information regarding the incident. The stabbing victim refused to answer questions and was not cooperative with the investigation.”
The victim was treated at Adventist Health Ukiah Valley for “several lacerations to his body and face,” none of which were life-threatening. He reportedly had surgery and has since been released.
When asked for more details about whether the victims in any way knew their attackers or if the incident was in any way related to the video being filmed, UPD Lt. Cedric Crook said the victims “claimed to have no idea who attacked them or why,” but he also described their statements as “inconsistent, to say the least.” He said there was likely “more to the story,” and it was “likely more appropriate to call the stabbing ‘victim’ an involved party in something” else that the group was not being truthful about.
Cedric said that officers confiscated the group’s cell phones, and that one of the trio claimed that the rap video being filmed was on one of the phones. Crook said the UPD was also trying to obtain security camera footage from Home Depot. He described the stabbing victim as black and his companions as Hispanic, and the attackers were all described as Hispanic by the reporting parties.
Crook said that while the UPD believes a collision occurred between two vehicles in the Home Depot parking lot, “we do not believe the incident occurred as the group described. It makes no sense that three men visiting from New York would be filming a rap video in the parking lot of the Ukiah Home Depot.”
Anyone with additional information about this incident is urged to contact the UPD at 707-463-6262.
