By: Staff
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In a startling turn of events today, Peter Ashley Thompson, aged 35, faces charges of attempted homicide following a brutal stabbing incident. The attack took place near a shopping center located on Archer Road, leaving the victim, who was asleep outdoors, in a critical state.
Responding swiftly at 8:25 a.m. on August 14, officers from the Gainesville Police Department arrived at the scene at 3581 SW Archer Road. They discovered a man suffering from multiple stab wounds inflicted on his head, chest, and arms. The victim’s injuries were severe enough to require immediate hospitalization, with one knife wound reportedly piercing his skull.
According to a bystander from a nearby business, the horrifying assault unfolded with the victim asleep on the ground. The suspect, described as a slender black male, allegedly approached, mounted the victim, and initiated the attack. As screams echoed, the witness observed a knife in the suspect’s hand. After the assault, the assailant reportedly wiped the knife on the victim’s blanket before disappearing behind a building, heading toward Kohl’s. The witness described the suspect as wearing a white shirt paired with light-colored, possibly khaki shorts.
Police soon secured the area and discovered a man matching the suspect’s description. Found outside a tent in a wooded area behind Goodwill at 3520 SW 34th Street, officers identified him as Thompson, who was seen cleaning his hands with water from a bottle.
The witness positively identified Thompson as the man who had stabbed the victim.
An officer reported that the entrance flap to the tent was open, and a pair of khaki shorts could be seen inside, lying on top of a large knife or machete.
A K-9 track was conducted from the scene of the stabbing, and the K-9 ended the track at Thompson’s tent.
Post Miranda, Thompson reportedly admitted to stabbing the victim in the face. He said he stabbed the victim because he was tired of people disturbing his property and tent area, and he believed the victim was associated with a group of people who had been disturbing his belongings. He said he went to Walmart this morning, and when he returned, he found that his tent area had been disturbed; he believed the victim was responsible for this, so he returned to where he had seen the victim and stabbed him with the intent of putting him in the hospital. He said he had hidden the knife in the bushes near his tent and had changed his clothes.
Thompson has been charged with attempted homicide. He has eight felony convictions (non-violent) and 21 misdemeanor convictions (one violent); he served three months in the Alachua County Jail earlier this year after entering a plea of nolo contendere to battery and trespassing. His bail (or a preliminary order to hold him without bail) will be set tomorrow.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.