DELAND, Fla. – Officers responded in droves on Tuesday evening after a stabbing outside a DeLand shopping center left a victim in surgery, according to police.
Police told News 6 that they responded to the shopping center near 1466 N. Woodland Blvd. around 5:14 p.m.
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Investigators said the incident happened behind the complex during an “altercation,” with the victim being stabbed in the neck and chest.
According to police, the stabbing suspect — later identified as Joseph Varela, 30 — fled the scene, sparking a manhunt to locate his whereabouts.
Police said that the altercation appears to have been “between two transients.”
DeLand police later announced that Varela had been arrested and is expected to face a charge of aggravated battery.
Meanwhile, police said that the victim was taken into surgery for treatment.
No additional information has been provided at this time.
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