A Bellefonte man was charged with attempted homicide after he allegedly stabbed a person in the neck Monday night at an apartment building in the borough.
James R. Surovec, 29, was taken into custody on Tuesday morning after an extensive search by law enforcement.
Just before 10 p.m. on Monday, a woman called 9-1-1 screaming that someone had been stabbed at 134 W. High St. while a fire alarm blared in the background, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Bellefonte police. Officers arrived to find a man lying on the stairs with a large amount of blood around him and a bystander rendering aid.
The man told police he went to investigate the fire alarm and found a burning box propping open a door at the top of the stairs. He confronted a man — later identified as Surovec — standing by the box, who shouted obscenities at him, according to the affidavit.
Surovec then allegedly pulled out a large knife and stabbed them man in the neck. Surovec ran out of the building and the man chased after him, but after Surovec turned southbound on Spring Street the man realized he was seriously injured and returned to the apartment building, police wrote.
The man who was stabbed was taken to Geisinger Medical in Danville and is in stable condition.
A Bellefonte detective reviewed video from the surveillance system at the Centre County Courthouse and observed a man matching the description of the suspect walking toward the 100 block of West High Street before going out of view. He was then seen walking toward the 200 block of East Cherry Lane,
After an hours-long search that also involved Spring Township police and state police troopers, Bellefonte police and the Centre County District Attorney’s detective located Surovec at an unoccupied house on the 200 block of Cherry Lane where he had been staying. He was taken into custody at about 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
A knife with “a reddish substance on the blade” was on the table in front of Surovec when he was found, police wrote.
Surovec allegedly acknowledged he was pictured in the surveillance camera images but claimed he was not downtown at the time of the stabbing.
The affidavit noted that Surovec had a recent history of alleged random criminal acts. In December, he was accused of destroying his apartment, including damage to the property caused by stab marks. He was arrested in February for puncturing the tires on several vehicles. He was arrested again in June for allegedly assaulting a man he did not know and damaging the property of another.
He also was arrested in March for allegedly making repeated harassing phone calls to county 9-1-1 dispatchers.
Surovec is charged with attempted homicide, felony counts of aggravated assault and arson and misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person, simple assault and possession of a weapon.
He was arraigned on Tuesday afternoon by District Judge Kelley Gillette-Walker, who denied bail, calling Surovec “an extreme danger to the public.”
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 26.
