WARREN - As a member of a neighborhood crimewatch group, Larry Oswald said he is used to watching for crime, but Thursday evening he didn't even have to leave his porch to witness an altercation between an adult and a teenager in front of his home.
Police were called to the intersection of Niblock Avenue and Riverview Street around 6:15 p.m. Thursday to a reported stabbing.
Detectives at the scene declined to comment, and several messages left seeking further information from a police shift commander were not returned.
Article Photos
An unidentified boy waits in a police cruiser Thursday evening at the scene of a reported stabbing on Warren’s northwest side. Police transported the boy, but released no further information Thursday evening. Photo by Bob Coupland
Both Niblock and Riverview were roped off with yellow police tape. Clothes and a backpack could be seen in the middle of Riverview.
Oswald said he was sitting on his porch when he heard a loud argument on Riverview. He said he saw an older adult man holding a knife with a four- to five-inch blade walking onto Niblock. A boy came up behind him with a large stick.
''I heard them coming around the corner by my house. He was yelling at the kid who was coming at him with a stick,'' Oswald said of the loud commotion, adding that the man was upset and telling the younger teen that they were threatening him.
Oswald called police while going out to the roadway to break up the altercation.
''I told them to stop and that police were coming,'' he said.
Oswald said he did not witness the stabbing but said witnesses reported an older teen had been stabbed.
He saw a teenager lying on the roadway on Riverview. Police scanner traffic reported the teen was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph Health Center, but a nursing supervisor reached late Thursday said she had no information to release.
''He was bleeding badly. One of the police officers put compression on his chest to try and stop the bleeding,'' he said.
Oswald said he saw the man put the knife into the grass of his yard.
A short time after the incident, Warren Detective Mike Stabile photographed the scene and inspected the lawn where the knife may have been placed in the ground.
Neighbor Larry Larson, who also lives in the 1200 block of Niblock, said he had heard yelling and then the ambulance.
''I heard the sirens and saw the ambulance and police arrive,'' he said.
Several people both in vehicles and walking to the scene began to congregate near the intersection after seeing safety vehicles and hearing the sirens. Most were not sure what had happened.
Witnesses said both the man and the teen who was not injured were taken away in police cruisers.