Edmund Clarke: Florida man, 36, stabs his employer's son 40 times using scissors in an attempted beheading
PUNTA GORDA, FLORIDA: A Florida man stabbed a man 40 times in the neck, head and torso with a pair of scissors inside a convenience store as he tried to behead him. Edmund Clarke, 36, entered the store with the victim. Clarke was working for his father as a caretaker, according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office. The incident took place on Monday, September 19, just before 7 pm. Video footage from the horrific attack shows Clarke grabbing scissors from a cup near the register and lunging at the victim.
The victim was stabbed multiple times by Clarke before he started grabbing other knives around and continued his attack for the next several minutes before cops arrived at the scene. The victim who is unnamed, was immediately taken to a hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. Miraculously, he survived, although his present condition is unknown.
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According to the New York Post, the arrest report said that Clarke worked for the victim's father for about a decade. The duo met at some point prior to the incident and Clarke told the victim he was hungry, so they stopped at The Trading Post in Burst Store Marina. Deputies said that Clarke and the victim had entered the store together and were ordering food before Clarke started attacking without warning.
An eyewitness claimed that Clarke started to experience hallucinations while making accusations toward someone before launching the assault. He was quickly arrested on the scene and is facing a charge of attempted murder. “This disgusting crime will not be tolerated in Lee County,” said Sheriff Carmine Marceno. “I am proud of the quick response of our deputies that helped save the victim’s life, and the hard work of my detectives to take Clarke off the street,” he added.
MEAWW previously reported that Briea Askew, 29, was charged with second-degree murder in connection to the death of a patient, a 21-year-old woman, of Jamestown with cerebral palsy. According to cops, the caretaker left her patient unattended in a hot car. The incident took place on August 10, 2021. Authorities noted that the woman’s temperature rose to more than 110 degrees as she stayed in the car, which did not have air conditioning. There have been similar incidents involving caretakers in the past. A five-year-old girl in Georgia, Savannah Adams was allegedly murdered by her caretaker. A North Dakota 15-month-old died because she was allegedly tortured and sexually abused by her caretaker in November 2021. A four-year-old girl was allegedly 'killed brutally' after suffering 'horrific' abuse at the hands of her caretaker in Philadelphia.