The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Police seek suspect in ‘serious’ double stabbing
ESSEX — Investigators are looking to identify one individual after a fight at a local gas station left two people with injuries from a stabbing Monday night, according to Connecticut State Police.
Troopers responded to the area of Main Street around 8:30 p.m. and met with victims of an assault. The victims reported that a physical altercation took place at the Bestway Sunoco gas station at 1 Saybrook Road.
First Selectman and state Sen. Norm Needleman said the victims drove about two miles away from the scene of the stabbing before crashing their car near the Griswold Inn in downtown Essex. The inn was hosting its “Sea Chanteys Night,” Needleman said, and several para
medics who happened to be in attendance were able to assist the victims before ambulances arrived.
Needleman said the gas station where the stabbing occurred has been the site of “an incident or two,” due to its proximity to the highway, “but nothing like this.”
The two individuals were taken to area hospitals to be treated for their injuries. State police said later Monday night that the victims’ conditions were being evaluated, with an update referring to the incident as a “serious injury assault.”
A clerk and the manager at the gas station declined to comment on the stabbing Tuesday morning, referring any questions to the police.
In downtown Essex Tuesday afternoon, store clerks and lunch-goers expressed curiosity about the incident, though few said they had been up the night before to witness it. Other than a few news crews, there were no signs of the disturbance.
Sharon Zeruk, of Tolland, was in town with her friend Debbie Grasso, of Plainville, to grab lunch at the Griswold Inn when she heard about the stabbing and crash. The historic riverfront town, with its Main Street lined with homes and shops dating to the 18th and 19th centuries, is an unexpected location for such an incident, she noted.
“I think the reaction is mostly ‘Essex? Why Essex?’” Zeruk said.
The Connecticut State Police Central District Major Crime Squad continues to investigate.
Authorities released an image of the alleged suspect in the double stabbing late Monday. They said the man was possibly in a dark-colored, newer model Alfa Romeo Stelvio.