Miller County Treasurer Teresa Reed was waiting outside the courthouse for the Quorum Court meeting to start Monday night when she heard a man screaming he had been stabbed.
Reed had arrived at the courthouse in the 400 block of Laurel Street for the 6:30 p.m. meeting when she saw the man running around a nearby building screaming. "At first, I didn't think it was real," Reed said.
"I heard him screaming and saw his wife and daughter running toward him. His wife and daughter were crying. Then I saw him bleeding from about a 2-inch wound on the top of his right shoulder," she said.
The stabbing happened about 6 p.m. near the Buhrman-Pharr Lofts in the 200 block of Laurel Street, according to police.
"It scared me. It was very scary. I saw the blood and I knew it was serious," Reed said.
As soon as she got the back door open to the courthouse, Reed ran inside to call 911 for the police and ambulance.
She went back outside with a bottle of water and a bottled soft drink to give to the bleeding man. "I told him to stay calm and not to breathe too hard," Reed said.
"The police got there fast and they arrested the man who did the stabbing," she said.
Details on the arrest were not available late Monday.
The victim said he felt a stinging on the top of the shoulder and realized he had been stabbed by the suspect.
Reed said the victim was taken by ambulance to Wadley Regional Medical Center for treatment of the stab wound.
Reed said the family had been eating dinner at the Salvation Army facility and were walking home when the stabbing occurred.
"You never know what will confront you," she said.