APOPKA, Fla. – A 76-year-old man has been arrested in Orange County on allegations of stabbing his neighbor in an unprovoked attack.
A witness told News 6 that the victim was walking his dog Tuesday on East Myrtle Street in Apopka when his neighbor attacked him. The victim told Apopka police that he simply asked the suspect how his day was before being stabbed.
Mary WInsor said that she was inside her home just after 10 a.m. when her neighbor started yelling for help.
"I heard him, 'Mary, Mary I've been stabbed,'" Winsor said. "It was surreal, I came out, and even seeing the blood on Tom's shirt, it was -- it took me probably 30 seconds to realize that it was real (and) wasn't something I was watching on TV or something."
Apopka police wrote in a search warrant that Daniel Davis, 76, attacked his neighbor and stabbed him in the abdomen.
Davis went before a judge in Orange County on Wednesday and faces a charge of attempted murder.
Police issued a search warrant to arrest Davis after detectives claimed that Davis "retreated" inside his home after the stabbing and refused to come out.
Winsor recorded video on her cellphone showing Davis being taken out of the house by SWAT officers. Winsor said Davis stayed inside the house for seven hours while SWAT officers attempted to get him to surrender.
Winsor said that the victim underwent surgery and is back home.
"He just kept saying, 'Why, why, why did he stab me? Why?' I said, 'I can't answer. I don't know why,'" said Winsor. "It just missed his lung. Luckily, they were able to do surgery with a good outcome."
Winsor also said that she's observed Davis display what she describes as "strange" behavior during the last two years while she has lived next door to him.
Davis is being held in the Orange County jail on $12,500 bond.