The Morgantown Police Department is investigating a possible stabbing near Diamond Village, the homeless encampment in Greenmont.
Thursday morning, the MPD reported the stabbing at the encampment. However, the incident happened at Deckers Creek Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue, the department said on Thursday afternoon.
Officers and EMS went to the camp at about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday and spoke to a witness who said a woman stabbed a man and that they both left the area, according to the MPD.
Officers followed a trail of blood but couldn’t find the victim. The woman was found, questioned and released.
She was released because the MPD did not have enough evidence to arrest her, Morgantown Communications Director Andrew Stacy said.
“Police haven’t been able to locate and confirm the victim, so they don’t know where he was stabbed,” he said.
At about 5:30 p.m., officers found a man fitting the description of the victim, but he ran away during questioning and was seen throwing away what were later identified as stolen objects as he ran, the department said.
The stolen objects recovered include a wallet and other items, Stacy said.
The victim is described as a white man, about 6’ 1”, with sandy blonde hair, a beard and a bandage on his right arm.
Anyone with information is asked to call the MPD at 304-284-7522, Ext 0.
Diamond Village is located off Pennsylvania not far from where the incident happened.
At its Aug. 19 meeting, the Morgantown City Council voted 6-1 to shut down the encampment, which is on city property, by moving its residents into housing.
Since that meeting, outreach staff from Bartlett House and the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness have been at the camp registering individuals, Stacy said.
The city is working with those two groups to get people into housing and finalizing the Landlord Incentive Program to make sure enough units are available to offer each person at Diamond Village a permanent housing offer, he said.
