An Anchorage resident accused of stabbing another man, seriously wounding him, at a downtown bar early Saturday was charged with attempted murder and assault.
Police said they located Johnny Rendon, 48, later that morning after the stabbing at the Gaslight Lounge and arrested him after an interview with detectives at the Anchorage Police Department.
Surveillance footage from inside the bar showed Rendon and his family member in a “verbal confrontation” with two other men that escalated into a physical fight around 2 a.m., according to a summary of a police report written by Assistant District Attorney C. Travis Atkinson and included with the charges.
The men were seen in the footage talking with each other for several minutes near the DJ booth and appeared to know each other, bar owner John Pattee said Monday, and a police spokeswoman said that the victim and suspect were previously acquainted, based on the department’s preliminary investigation.
One of the other men punched Rendon in the face and the group began to fight before security pulled them away from one another, the summary said, describing the video. The bar was busy when the fight broke out, Pattee said.
Rendon reentered the area and could be seen jabbing an object toward one of the men in the surveillance video, the summary said. Pattee said security staff moved the wounded man to a quieter area of the bar while they called 911. He was able to walk and talk immediately after the stabbing, Pattee said.
The man was treated for life-threatening stab wounds at a hospital and underwent emergency surgery, according to the summary.
Bar security removed Rendon from the building — which is located across Fourth Avenue from Anchorage police headquarters — and he left the scene, the summary said.
Police later executed a search warrant at Rendon’s home and found folding knives along with clothing that appeared to match what he was wearing in the surveillance footage, according to the summary.
Rendon is facing charges of attempted murder and first- and third-degree assault. He was in custody Monday at the Anchorage Correctional Complex and was being held on $50,000 bail.
In an update Tuesday, police said that they believe a woman standing nearby when the fight broke out may have inadvertently been cut by the knife. They asked for the woman or anyone who knows her to contact dispatch at 311, option 1, or 907-786-8900, option 0.