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Man stabbed in Walmart fight

BUTLER TWP — One man was stabbed and another arrested after two young men apparently squared off to settle a score at the Walmart early Friday morning.

Justin D. Woods, 20, of Butler is in the Butler County Prison on $5,000 bail. He faces felony assault and other charges.

Alex Dorenkamp, 19, of Chicora needed hospital treatment for a knife wound to the stomach.

At least two 911 calls alerted police about the violent altercation just after midnight at the Butler Commons shopping plaza store. One of the callers turned out to be the suspect.

Woods “reported that he was at the grocery side of the Walmart and he stabbed another male after being punched,” accordidng to court documents.

He described what he was wearing so responding officers would know him when they got there.

State police heard the radio call and sent troopers to help. They had Woods in handcuffs at the front side entrance by the time Butler Township arrived.

Police found Dorenkamp lying in the parking lot bleeding several parking spaces away from the front of the store's grocery entrance, investigators said.

A Butler Ambulance Service crew tended to him before taking him to an unspecified hosptial.

A Butler Memorial Hospital spokesman said Friday morning that there was no record of the victim being admitted to that facility.

Police said Woods expressed remorse when they spoke to him at the store.

“I stabbed him,” he said, according to a police affidavit. “I feel so bad.”

Later, during an interview at the township police station, he recounted going to the Walmart to buy a video game when he heard someone say his name.

He turned around and saw Dorenkamp, who was with his girlfriend in front of the coin-operated machines in the store. The defendant told police that he knew the victim only by his first name.

He claimed Dorenkamp confronted him about a traffic incident the previous night in Butler.

The victim accused Woods of running his girlfriend off the road in Butler. Woods denied the accusation.

The two men started “arguing and yelling at each other,” Dorenkmap's girlfriend told police, documents said.

They began to walk outside to fight. Dorenkamp, his girlfriend said, did not want to fight in the store since there were surveillance cameras around.

Moments later, they started “punching and fighting” at the store, the woman recounted.

Woods said he did not remember much about the fight, other than his head being slammed against the wall.

“This is when he pulled out the knife,” the affidavit said, “stabbed Dorenkamp and called 911.”

Dorenkamp, his girlfriend told investigators, stumbled “back and towards” the side parking lot before he made his way to the couple's car, where police and emergency crews found him.

She also recalled seeing Woods holding the knife in his hand

Police seized the alleged weapon, which they described as an 8-inch folding knife having an orange handle and a 3-inch serrated blade.

District Judge Wayne Seibel arraigned Woods on charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and harassment.

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