WARREN - Police on Friday were still sorting out facts in Thursday evening's stabbing of a 14-year-old male, who was reportedly involved in a dispute with an adult resident on the northwest side.
Police said Marco Dukes, 14, 2293 Stephens Ave. N.W., was treated at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown for a stab wound to the chest and a possible punctured lung. He was transported there from St. Joseph Health Center.
A nurse at the hospital declined to confirm if Dukes was a patient there on Friday.
According to reports, the teen's dispute with the unidentified 67-year-old man occurred at the intersection of Riverview Street and Niblock Avenue N.W. shortly after 6 p.m.
Police said they found Dukes lying in the street, and as paramedics were treating him they spoke with another teen, believed to be 13 years old, who said he was walking alongside Dukes, who was on a bicycle.
The 13-year-old told police as they walked by the older man on Riverview, he asked the man what was in the bag he was carrying. The teen told officers the man became irate, began to chase him and Dukes, then stabbed Dukes.
The 13-year-old then said he got on Dukes' bicycle and chased the suspect.
Dukes told officers he remembers his 13-year-old friend making a remark to the older man, but he didn't remember what he said. Dukes told officers the man called him a derogatory name and began chasing him while he was still on his bike.
Dukes told police he got off the bike and continued running east on Riverview, but he turned around to retrieve the bicycle and saw the older man coming at him with the knife in his right hand, and then stabbing him with an underhand motion. He told police he never made a remark toward the man and had never seen him before.
Police roped off the section of the roadway where the stabbing occurred and eventually questioned the 13-year-old and the older man, who reportedly had a different version of what happened, including getting the bike thrown at him by one of the boys.
The man also claimed that shots were fired at him or his house later in the night, but police found no evidence of shell casings or bullet holes in his house. Officers stopped a car described as carrying a gunman, but found no gun in the car, police said.