Man randomly stabs teen with screwdriver, police say

UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Police said a man stabbed a teenager as he was leaving church in an unprovoked and random attack.

The 18-year-old was in the hospital recovering Monday night after police said he was stabbed seven times with a screwdriver.

Ryan Black's family said he is at Carolinas Medical Center recovering.

This is not the first time Matthew Gatewood has been accused of randomly stabbing a stranger.

"I never thought something like that would happen in this town," Black's cousin, Dario Richardson, said.

He said Black was leaving his family's church when he stopped at a Marathon gas station to get gas.

"A guy was on drugs really bad and just ran up and started stabbing him with a screwdriver," Richardson said.

Union County deputies said Gatewood, 29, stabbed Black repeatedly with a screwdriver then drove off south on Potters Road.

Investigators said the two had never met and the random attack was unprovoked.

"He got stabbed in his pancreas, his intestine, back of the neck," Black's cousin said.

Witnesses were able to describe Gatewood's car and police found him at a home on Crow Road.

Gatewood was accused of stabbing another stranger in 2010 at a Walmart in Wadesboro while on probation, police said.

Deputies have not released a motive in the stabbing.

Black's sister said her brother is not able to talk but he is able to write.

Gatewood is being held on a $150,000 bond.

WSOC