‘He just came up and stabbed me’: CMPD makes arrest in machete attack

CHARLOTTE — Police told Channel 9 on Friday that they have arrested a man accused of attacking two people Wednesday afternoon with a machete on East 7th Street near Ridgeway Avenue in Charlotte’s Elizabeth community.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police initially identified 22-year-old Jomorei Lamont Geddie as a person of interest in the attack but on Friday said he was cleared of any involvement.

Detectives subsequently arrested and charged 27-year-old Reginald Jakes in the stabbing.

Officers said the attack happened on a CATS bus.

Venice Freeman was on the No. 27 CATS bus when he was attacked by someone he did not know.

“He got on from the front, and I was sitting in the back,” Freeman told Channel 9 reporter Mark Becker the following day. “He had a machete in his hand and talked about he was going to kill me, and I didn’t say nothing to him.”

Freeman was stabbed in the back.

“I didn’t even know the guy or nothing,” he said. “He just came up and just stabbed me.”

Crime scene tape could be seen from the Violin Shoppe to the Kirkland Apartments on East 7th Street. CMPD said that after the attack, the Jakes ran away.

“That don’t make no sense, right there, that someone came on the bus and tried to kill you,” Cathy Brewster told her brother over the phone Thursday while he was in the hospital. “It could have gone another way. It could’ve went another round. I could’ve been planning a funeral for you.”

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Brewster wondered how a man with a machete could walk onto a bus and no one stopped him.

“You could see this weapon and was standing there like this,” she said. “With this dangerous weapon on the bus, how could the bus driver not see that?”

“It’s scary,” said Amber Johnson, who lives nearby. “I’m here a lot at night by myself in the evenings after dark. I just saw them put the crime scene tape out and then all the cops came up. They brought the dogs out.”

Nearby, Novant Health officials said they briefly placed the hospital under lockdown as a precaution because of the attack. The suspect did not enter the hospital, officials said.

The victims were hospitalized but police said they are expected to be OK.

Police are investigating whether it was a random attack or if those involved knew each other.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact 911.

No further information has been released. Check back with wsoctv.com for updates.

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