BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — By the time deputies reached Turkey Creek Road, the fight was over, one man was on his way to the hospital and an 18-year-old had blood on his clothes.

Robert Brayden Moore of Debord was arrested July 12 in Inez and charged with second-degree assault after witnesses said he stabbed Chris Mann during an alcohol-fueled altercation.

A neighbor had called authorities to report a group of people drinking and fighting. Martin County Sheriff’s Deputy David Adams arrived to assist Sheriff John Kirk and found Moore at the scene, according to the arrest citation.

Mann had already been taken to a hospital. He had a wound to his back and a large laceration on the back of his head.

Mann and two witnesses gave deputies the same account: Moore had stabbed Mann in the back.

The reason for the attack was less clear.

Two other witnesses said Ethan Williams and Braden Bowen had been arguing before Mann was injured. They believed that the dispute somehow led Moore to turn on Mann.

Moore allegedly admitted that he had been drinking and had been involved in an altercation with Williams and Bowen. But he reportedly told Adams that he could not remember why he and Mann were fighting.

He also said he did not remember stabbing Mann.

According to the police report, Kirk contacted Mann’s attending physician and hospital staff. They told the sheriff that the injury to Mann’s back was consistent with a knife wound.