Suspect in ‘random’ stabbing found competent to stand trial

STAMFORD — A city teen accused of stabbing a random man in a Norwalk Hospital parking lot in June was ruled competent to stand trial Tuesday.

Judge John Blawie deemed Shamar Grant, 19, competent to stand trial based on the findings of a competency evaluation he underwent on Oct. 1.

“I will find and concur with the team. They are unanimously of the opinion that he (Grant) does have the capacity to understand the criminal proceedings against him and he does have the capability to assist Attorney (Frank) Bevilacqua in his defense of these charges,” Blawie said Tuesday.

Grant was ordered to undergo a competency evaluation in July, about a month after he was arrested and charged with firstdegree assault.

The arrest stemmed from a June 5 incident where he allegedly stabbed the father of a newborn baby as the father packed things into the trunk of his car outside of Norwalk Hospital, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Valdes.

The man suffered serious injuries, including a collapsed lung and a damaged spleen, according to Valdes and an affidavit for Grant’s arrest.

The man, however, received immediate emergency care from hospital staff following the stabbing, which Valdes said in July prevented the incident from turning “into a much more serious case.”

In the days after the assault, police described the attack as a random act of violence.

According to an arrest affidavit, Grant told detectives he “felt threatened by society” in the moments leading up to the stabbing. He described experiencing suspicious activity on his cellphone, which he said prompted him to use a switchblade to assault a man, the affidavit states.

“Because I felt threatened, I committed a dangerous action, I attacked this person with a knife,” Grant told police, according to the affidavit. “I think I stabbed this person twice.”

Grant told investigators he cut through the hospital property on his way to the store, but began to feel concerned when his phone appeared to malfunction, the affidavit said. He informed police that he suspected someone had previously hacked into his cellphone and had started carrying a knife regularly because he did not feel safe in “society.”

Grant is being held at the Manson Youth Institute in lieu of $1.25 million bond. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

His next court date is scheduled for Nov. 30.