After attempting to buy — and then stealing — a security guard’s dog Monday, an Alachua man stabbed the guard in the neck, Gainesville Police said.
Jose Amaya, 37, was on duty at an apartment in the 1400 block of SW 18th Place when the attacker — Zain Zamorano, 32, — took his white pit bull, a witness told police, according to an arrest report.
Zain Zamorano
Amaya immediately reported the theft to police, but officers did not arrive in time.
Zamorano returned just before 7 p.m. and began to argue with the guard, eventually stabbing him in the neck and arm, according to the report. Amaya survived the attack, but he was left with an inch-deep puncture wound on the right side of his neck and another on the upper part of his left arm.
Emergency Medical Services on the scene told police one of the wounds was about an inch away from his carotid artery.
After his arrest, Zamorano told police Amaya tried to stab him and that a knife police recovered at the scene belonged to Amaya, according to the report.
Police arrested Zamorano on a charge of aggravated battery. Authorities took him to the Alachua County Jail where he remains, as of press time, in lieu of a $50,000 bond.
Speaking through a translator Wednesday, Amaya said he is still recovering from the stabbing with his dog by his side.
“I can’t move my arm a lot,” Amaya said. “It hurts a lot.”
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mkornfield@alligator.org
