The friend of a New Year’s Day stabbing victim was arrested in a Holmes Beach home intrusion early Jan. 1.
Holmes Beach Police Department arrested Michael B. Willis, 24, of Fairmont, West Virginia, at 4 a.m. for allegedly burglarizing a residence in the 6300 block of Gulf Drive.
The suspect allegedly broke into a garage through sliding glass doors and rummaged through the kitchen before waking up the occupants.
The couple called 911, according to an HBPD report, on being awakened and finding Willis standing in the living room.
HBPD Officer Alan Bores responded and reported Willis had a lacerated right arm and blood smeared across his face. According to the report, Willis did not recall how his arm was injured and refused treatment from paramedics.
Willis also was arrested for throwing a chair onto a neighbor’s balcony with damages of $325.
Meanwhile, HBPD Officer Mike Walker pulled over a Honda with a West Virginia tag for failing to stop at a stop sign at 62nd Street and Marina Drive and found a 21-year-old Virginia passenger who claimed he had been stabbed.
The driver said she was taking her stepson to the hospital.
Walker observed the man’s arm bleeding profusely and another man, his father, holding a tourniquet. The officer called emergency medical services. The parents told police their son woke them up by yelling for help at the home they had rented for the holiday.
The driver also told police she was worried about Willis, who had been out with her stepson but did not return with him to the vacation home.
According to the HBPD report, the stabbing victim was taken to Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, where he was treated and interviewed by police.
The victim told police he and Willis were walking home from a fireworks display in Bradenton Beach and made a stop at Hurricane Hank’s Bar and Grill.
The stabbing victim told police that, somewhere in the 5800 block of Marina Drive, “two unknown suspects walked up to him and the next thing he knew he was bleeding,” according to the police report.
The victim described the suspects as males, wearing button-up Polo-style shirts.
According to the report, the victim changed his story several times and told police he was sorry, but intoxicated.