Man fatally stabbed in Newark ID’D

The man who died from stab wounds at a Newark Township shopping center Monday evening has been identified.

Police said 38-year-old Rodney Preston, of Newark, died inside a business in the Indian Valley Shopping Center on the 200 block of Deo Drive after being stabbed outside in the parking lot around 4:15 p.m. Monday.

Preston died after being stabbed in what police have said was an altercation with 28-year-old Michael A. Culp, 28, also of Newark.

A 911 caller who witnessed the incident said Culp set a backpack down and went into a business. Preston had been going through the backpack when Culp came back and stabbed Preston, the caller said. Police said Preston then stabbed Culp with a separate knife or with Preston’s knife.

Culp suffered life-threatening injuries and remained hospitalized Wednesday at Ohiohealth Grant Medical Center, police said.

An employee of a different business called 911 and said two people came in and said they had been stabbed. Preston was later pronounced dead there.

Culp has two prior felony convictions in Licking County for which he spent time in prison. The most recent conviction was in 2016 for a third-degree felony count of violation of a protection order with a firearm specification. Culp had been sentenced to two years in prison for that case.