Mebane’s city council took time out Monday night to recognize hero citizens and first responders whose quick actions were attributed to saving the life of a man who was attacked and brutally and repeatedly stabbed while shopping at Lowes Foods in Mebane.
The incident occurred last month, shortly after noon on Friday, March 7.
According to Mebane’s police department, “the suspect approached the victim and initiated a violent assault with a knife. Officers quickly located and arrested the suspect. . . without incident. A knife was recovered at the scene in connection with the attack.”
The assault continues to baffle police chief Mitch McKinney. In the immediate aftermath, the department’s press release notes, “There is currently no known connection between the suspect and the victim, and the motive remains under investigation.” The assault was described by police as “an isolated, non-targeted incident.”
A month later, and there’s still no known connection, McKinney said in an interview with The Alamance News, shortly after his officers and others were recognized by the city council Monday night.
McKinney said that, in his 29 years as a law enforcement officer, he’s rarely run across a case in which there’s so little obvious connection between the suspect and victim and no motive for the assault – either real or imagined.
Charged with attempted first degree murder is Dason Mykey Hodge, a 24-year-old black male of 3020 St. Croix Lane, #211, in Mebane.
Hodge has no known criminal record, and McKinney said he has no past or known mental illness or other impairment that might have triggered or contributed to the seemingly sudden and unprovoked assault.
According to court files and other public records, the victim was David Morazes of Graham, who was 54 at the time of the assault (a week before his 55th birthday).
Morazes was air-flighted to Duke Hospital, according to McKinney, who said the victim had been stabbed eight times.
A friend later said one of the stab wounds had punctured a lung, and that the victim had remained hospitalized in critical condition for two weeks.
He has been released from the hospital, but mayor Ed Hooks read an emailed letter from his wife, Chrissy, in which she said they were unable to come to the city council meeting but thanked store patrons, police, and other first responders. “He is getting better every day,” she said in an emailed note that the mayor read.
Recognized were Lowes employee Nai Ah Mtoo and store patrons John Harden, Christina Forrest, Joshua Castleberry, and Darlene Rees.
Some held down the assailant while others worked to slow the bleeding until first responders arrived.
Also recognized were first responding police officers Cory Harmon, Damian Wiggins, Tyler Perry, and Taylor Davis and firefighters Michael Wirbelauer, Chris Sizemore, and Hunter Milam; two other firefighters, Alex Hinson and Patrick Loman, were absent.
Originally under a $2.5 million bond, according to Alamance County court records, Hodge remains in custody at the Alamance County jail, a detention center supervisor confirmed for the newspaper Tuesday. Among the stipulations for his release is that he have “no contact with the victim or his family, directly or indirectly, including by written, oral, or electronic means including social media.”
Hodge was originally being represented by Clay Plunkett of the Office of Public Defender, but that representation was changed to Janice Kimberly Brooks, also of the public defender’s office. His next court date is May 21.
