Two men were hospitalized Friday afternoon after stabbing each other during an argument over a cellphone near the Midtown MARTA station, according to Atlanta police. Officers responded shortly after 2 p.m. to a report of a person armed with a knife near 33 Peachtree Place NE, just across from the station, and found both men suffering from apparent stab wounds.
Police told Atlanta News First that one of the men produced an edged weapon and stabbed the other, who then took the weapon and stabbed him back. Despite the violence of the encounter, both men were alert, conscious and breathing when they were taken to the hospital, police said. The same outlet reported that officers detained the first man, whose identity had not been released, with charges against him described as pending.
Other reporting on the incident offered a slightly different picture of the investigation's status. FOX 5 Atlanta reported that police detained the suspect at the scene and that charges were pending; authorities had not released the men’s names. A FOX 5 photojournalist saw Atlanta police patrol cars and officers stationed on Peachtree Place NE near the station. The station said its reporting was gathered from official email statements provided by MARTA and the Atlanta Police Department.
MARTA Says Stabbing Happened Off Its Property
MARTA officers were the first to be flagged down about the stabbing Friday afternoon, per the station's report, but a MARTA spokesperson said the incident did not happen on MARTA property, so Atlanta police took over the investigation. The Atlanta Police Department confirmed it responded near the Midtown MARTA station on Peachtree Place NE and that officers found two victims who were awake and alert, per police.
Investigators had not released the identities of the two men, nor had they shared details about what led up to the confrontation beyond the account of a dispute over a cellphone, the same report notes. It remains unclear what relationship, if any, existed between the two men before the altercation.
Pattern of Violence Near Midtown Station
Friday's stabbing adds to a string of violent incidents that have unfolded in and around the Midtown MARTA station this year. In June, authorities searched for a man who opened fire on a MARTA train near the station, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The injured victim in that shooting was a 17-year-old who suffered gunshot wounds to his left arm and leg and was expected to recover, the newspaper reported.
That shooting came just days after a woman was stabbed to death on a MARTA train on May 30, an attack that prompted a federal investigation into the transit system, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Friday's stabbing near the Midtown station did not occur aboard a train or on MARTA property, but it unfolded on Peachtree Place NE.
As of Friday afternoon, Atlanta police had not released further details about what led to the confrontation or disclosed the current condition of either man beyond confirming both were alert and breathing when taken to the hospital. The investigation remained active, with conflicting accounts from local outlets over whether a suspect had been detained or formally charged.
