Three Injured As Partygoers’ Trip To Store Ends In Knife Fight

Three men were wounded Friday during a wild knife fight in the Spokane Valley, sheriff’s deputies said.

Two 18-year-old Spokane residents suffered minor injuries in the fracas and a 29-year-old Montana man was hospitalized with multiple stab wounds. None of his injuries was life-threatening, nurses said.

Witnesses said the incident began about 1 a.m., when the trio - sitting in a parked car in the 5600 block of East Mallon - got into a dispute over money.

The men apparently left a party together to go to a store for cigarettes. When they returned, the Montana resident, who was in the back seat, demanded cash from his companions.

When they refused, he held a knife to the throat of the teenager in the passenger’s seat, deputies said.

The driver jumped out of the car and yelled for help from other partygoers. When several people ran over and tried to drag the Montana man out of the car, he slashed his hostage, deputies said.

Detectives said the teenager suffered a large gash that ran up his nose, between his eyes and onto his forehead.

When the crowd got the Montana man out of the car, someone began hitting him with a piece of lumber. Another person stabbed him with a kitchen knife, deputies said.

The Montana resident tried to defend himself with his own knife and sliced the other teenager’s hand, according to deputies.

The group finally overwhelmed the Montana man and left him lying in the street, where he was found by a passer-by, deputies said. He suffered multiple wounds to his head, back and hands.

No one has been arrested. Deputies said it will be up to prosecutors to decide if charges should be filed.

, DataTimes