NILES — A Warren man accused of stabbing another man during an argument in the Gentry Plaza parking lot had his case bound over to the Trumbull County grand jury following a preliminary hearing Monday in Niles Municipal Court.

Kenyon Kellum, 52, of Southern Boulevard in Warren, remains jailed on a $1 million bond after pleading not guilty Thursday to charges of attempted murder and felonious assault.

Niles Municipal Court Judge Christopher Shaker presided over both the arraignment and the Monday hearing where the case was bound over to the grand jury for consideration of a formal indictment. If indicted, the matter would proceed to Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Kellum has been designated a repeat violent offender because of a 1992 conviction on a charge of complicity to felonious assault. He was arrested Wednesday afternoon after the incident at the plaza near the intersection of U.S. Route 422 and state Route 46. Police have yet to release the victim’s name.

Niles Prosecutor Phillip Zuzulo detailed the events leading to the charges, citing eyewitness accounts and surveillance footage. Prosecutors justified the attempted murder charge by noting that Kellum had multiple opportunities to de-escalate and walk away before resorting to deadly force.

The downward trajectory of the stab wounds further supported the determination of intent. According to Zuzulo, an eyewitness reported that the victim spotted Kellum and a woman exiting one of the nearby restaurants and began accosting the couple.

Video evidence shows the woman handing the defendant a knife amid the ongoing argument. The footage then captures the defendant stabbing the victim in the upper left side of his body, specifically the left chest and neck area, with a downward trajectory, the report states. The altercation continued even after the stabbing, and the defendant and the woman fled the scene, heading eastbound on Youngstown Warren Road to a nearby Days Inn motel.

Using the city’s Flock license plate camera system, officers tracked the suspects to a room at the Days Inn. Motel management confirmed a couple matching the descriptions.

The victim was found unresponsive on the west side of the plaza near Morgan Furniture around 3 p.m. Wednesday. The Niles Fire Department and EMT personnel treated him as a trauma patient on-site before he was rushed to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital where he underwent surgery for stab wounds to the neck and chest, police said.