ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A St. Augustine priest is recovering in a hospital Wednesday after a random stabbing attack while having coffee, according to News 6 partner WJXT-TV.
According to police, the stabbing happened shortly after 8 a.m., in front of a cafe near the intersection of San Marco Avenue and Rohde Avenue.
The owner of the cafe said Father Matt Marino went there often, WJXT-TV reported.
The Episcopal Diocese of Florida (EDF) released a statement about the incident on its Facebook page.
The suspect was identified as 22-year-old Arierana Gibbs, and she was arrested two hours after the stabbing.
A man who didn’t want to be identified described the aftermath of the incident as scary.
“It was pretty wild,” said the man said, who works nearby.
[STORY CONTINUES BELOW]
The man said he saw blood coming from Marino and people jumped into action to stop Gibbs from leaving the scene.
“At the time, it was kind of like, ‘Hey, try to help the person,’ but then after it was pretty shocking because you don’t really hear about stuff like that happening in this area,” the man said.
Marino is the lead pastor at Trinity Parish’s downtown campus, which is only minutes from where he was stabbed.
According to the Trinity Parish website, Marino likes to “drink coffee, talk about Jesus, and will shamelessly invite himself aboard your sailboat.”
Another man said he’s glad the pastor is doing OK and hopes he recovers quickly.
Officials are still investigating but said the early belief is that the two people did not know each other.