Several people injured in mass stabbing, authorities say

TALLAHASSEE

Several people were stabbed at a building materials business in Tallahassee on Wednesday morning before a suspect, identified by police as an employee, was taken into custody.

The attack, at Dyke InAfter dustries on the northwest side of the city, left five people with multiple stab wounds.

Police identified the suspect as 41-year-old Antwann Demetris Brown, who had worked at Dyke for about three and a half months.

Shortly after clocking in at 8 a.m., Brown had a verbal dispute with coworkers or supervisors, according to interim Tallahassee Police Chief Steven Outlaw. Outlaw said he didn’t know what the dispute was about.

being told to leave, Brown clocked out of work at 8:20 a.m., Outlaw said.

He did not leave the property, however, and 11 minutes later employees called 911 reporting that Brown had stabbed several people.

Outlaw said Brown was armed with a “common pocket knife-size” blade, and that he appeared to be seeking out particular victims who were working on the factory lines.

Several employees fought back, arming themselves “with whatever they could,” Outlaw said.

The employees subdued Brown, but by the time officers arrived, at 8:37 a.m., Brown was on foot outside the property.

Officers arrested him “almost immediately,” Outlaw said.

He said Brown was cooperating with detectives.

The five victims were treated at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital: One patient was in serious condition, with two patients in fair condition and two patients in good condition, according to hospital spokeswoman Danielle Buchanan.

Marquitta Campbell, the wife of one of the victims, told the Tallahassee Democrat that her husband, Bobby Riggins Jr., had gone to Dyke Industries for a job interview when he was attacked.

She was on the phone with him as it happened, she told the paper: “The next thing I know, he said, ‘Baby. I’ve been stabbed five times.’ “She added that her husband was taken to the hospital with internal bleeding and that he called her to say he was going into surgery.

His mother-in-law, Tangela McGhee, told the Herald/Times that she learned about the stabbing from Campbell.

“All I could hear was ‘stabbed five times’ ... I went into a panic mode,” said McGhee, who was at the emergency wing of Tallahassee Memorial on Wednesday morning. “It’s overwhelming.”

McGhee said Riggins is in good condition and is awake and talking.

Dyke Industries, a building business that produces doors, millwork, and windows, has 15 locations across the Southeast and Midwest, including Miami.