A machete attack outside an Uptown Charlotte gastropub that left two men bloodied and a suspect in blood-soaked clothing has ended with a guilty plea, more than a year after the chaotic scene unfolded on Brevard Street. Matthew King, now 40, admitted to assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury in a case that began with a bar fight and escalated into an armed ambush in the early morning hours.
Police were called to 300 S. Brevard St. around 2 a.m. on August 9, 2025, arresting King at 2:17 a.m. outside the business while he was still wearing blood-covered clothing, according to WCNC. The address is home to The Public House, a gastropub and sports bar that stays open until 2 a.m. and pours from 46 craft beer taps, according to The Public House. King was taken to a local hospital for minor face injuries before being booked into the Mecklenburg County Jail, per the same account.
Court records relayed by Law & Crime describe how King got into a fight inside the bar and was hit in the face by another customer before security kicked him out, according to Charlotte Alerts News. Rather than leave the area, King retrieved a machete from his car and came back roughly 30 minutes later, approaching victim Kurt Lee Casey from behind and saying, “Remember me?” before attempting to strike him with brass knuckles and swinging an 18-inch machete blade overhead.
Two Patrons Hurt Trying to Stop the Attack
Casey blocked the overhead swing and suffered a severe laceration to his left hand that required surgery, the outlet's report notes. A second victim, Jeffrey Vangordon, sustained a cut to his right thigh while helping subdue King, who was ultimately disarmed and tackled to the ground by patrons inside the bar. Charlotte Alerts News reported that the customer's hand bled profusely and that patrons at the bar were left covered in blood by the time the scuffle ended.
Police recovered both the machete and the brass knuckles at the scene, and King was taken into custody there as well. He sustained extensive facial injuries during the altercation that later required surgeries of his own, per the local outlet's account. Multiple eyewitnesses provided written statements confirming the sequence of events, from the initial fistfight to King's return with the weapons.
From Attempted Murder to a Negotiated Plea
King's initial arrest involved severe allegations, including attempted first-degree murder and Class C felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, which carries a maximum sentence of up to 231 months under North Carolina law, according to Thomas Amburgey Law. By 2026, the case concluded with a guilty plea to the lesser charge of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, a Class E felony under North Carolina General Statutes Section 14-32(b) that carries a potential active prison sentence of 15 to 88 months depending on King's prior record level, according to the Glover Law Firm.
The physical evidence against King, including the recovered weapons, the blood-stained clothing, and written victim statements, strongly supported prosecution. Plea agreements of this kind are standard practice within the Mecklenburg County District Attorney's Office's Violent Crimes Team, a unit created in 2017 to prioritize prosecution of serious felony assaults, armed offenses, and repeat violent offenders in Charlotte, according to the Mecklenburg County District Attorney's Office.
A Bar Fight Amid Falling Citywide Crime Numbers
King, who Hoodline previously reported lived in Indian Trail attempted murder case, a Union County suburb roughly 15 miles southeast of Uptown Charlotte, saw his case resolve as the city's overall violent crime trends moved in the opposite direction of his August 2025 rampage. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department reported that overall violent crime across Charlotte fell 21% in 2025 compared to 2024, with aggravated assaults dropping 20% citywide, according to the City of Charlotte. Midyear data for 2026 showed an additional 8% drop in violent crime during the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2025, as reported by WCNC.
The Brevard Street incident remains one of the more dramatic examples of Uptown nightlife violence from the past year, unfolding steps from the heart of Charlotte's central dining and entertainment corridor. King's guilty plea closes the criminal case, though the statutory sentencing range means his eventual prison term will depend on how his prior record is scored under North Carolina's felony sentencing guidelines.
