Relationship drama turned violent Wednesday morning when a girl's ex-boyfriend was charged with stabbing her current beau.
The Alachua County Sheriff's Office arrested Bruce J. O'Brien, 22, on attempted homicide charges. The victim, Alexander R. Martinez, 20, was treated for minor injuries at Shands at UF.
At about 8 a.m. Wednesday, O'Brien brought some of his ex-girlfriend's belongings to the apartment that she and Martinez share in the Tower Village complex on Southwest 44th Place. Before O'Brien could get inside, though, Martinez confronted him.
According to an arrest report, O'Brien recently sent threatening text messages to Martinez and wrote that he was going to kill him. But another woman who lives with Martinez and the girlfriend said Martinez does not own a cellphone.
Either way, Martinez asked O'Brien on Wednesday if the two had a problem that needed to be addressed, according to police. O'Brien said that, indeed, they did. Then, he pulled out a knife.
He stabbed Martinez three times in the upper chest before running away.
The sheriff's office responded to a call from the apartment at 8:34 a.m., Sgt. Todd Kelly said. When they arrived, Martinez seemed OK. He was walking around the apartment and talking to officers, but paramedics still drove Martinez to Shands at UF to treat the stab wounds. He was treated and released without surgery Wednesday afternoon.
The sheriff's office dispatched a K-9 unit to find O'Brien, Kelly said. The search was not successful, but officers received a call at 9:48 p.m. from a woman who saw O'Brien in the Tower Oaks neighborhood, which is about two miles north of Martinez's apartment. The relationship between O'Brien and the woman who called is unclear.
Kelly said officers found O'Brien in the neighborhood about 10 minutes later. He was held at the Alachua County Jail on Wednesday night.
Martinez could not be reached for comment, and the sheriff's office did not release the name of his girlfriend. The woman who lives with Martinez said he was visiting his girlfriend's grandparents' house Wednesday night. The roommate did not know where they lived.
She also said the sheriff's office confiscated the girlfriend's phone.
