An 83-year-old man has been charged with attempted second-degree murder after allegedly stabbing a woman multiple times during a confrontation at a Miami Beach apartment building, according to Miami Beach police.
Officers said they responded to the 150 block of Alton Road shortly before 11 a.m. Monday, after reports of a physical altercation between a woman and a man.
Police said they found the woman unresponsive and bleeding from stab wounds to her chest and head inside her apartment.
Witnesses describe violent encounter
Several witnesses observed the woman staggering through the hallway, calling for help and bleeding heavily, police said.
A witness told detectives she saw the woman holding her chest while a man, later identified as John Gula, followed closely behind her.
Another woman attempted to restrain Gula, according to the incident report. She pulled the victim into her apartment while neighbors assisted and called 911.
Another witness told detectives she received a phone call from the victim saying, “Help me, help me,” and saw Gula entering the elevator wearing pants covered in blood.
Police: Surveillance video shows two knife attacks
Police reviewed building security footage, which they say showed the victim and Gula speaking outside his apartment.
In the video, Gula appears to pull a folding knife from his pocket and stab her, while another neighbor tried to intervene, according to the report.
The victim is then seen wrestling the knife away and throwing it down the hallway before stumbling away, bleeding.
Footage shows Gula allegedly retrieving a second knife from his pocket and lunging at the victim again. Blood was visible on the floor, according to the report.
Police later detained Gula at an apartment, where he was found wearing a U.S. Navy shirt, black pants and blood-stained shoes, according to police.
Police said a search of the apartment uncovered blood-covered glasses belonging to the victim and a pair of light-colored pants submerged in a bucket of pink-tinged water.
Gula was transported to the Miami Beach Police Criminal Investigation Division, where he invoked his rights and declined to provide a statement, police said.
