Fight over girl leads to stabbing

A fight over a 16-year-old girl apparently led to a stabbing in Saltville Monday night that injured a 20-year-old Saltville man and put a 19-year-old community resident in jail.
According to the Saltville Police Department, officers were called to the scene of a fight and subsequent stabbing at the town’s Little League parking lot on Palmer Avenue at 7:21 p.m.
Upon arrival, a department press release said, officers found that Patrick Anthony Harris, 20, of Saltville had sustained three stab wounds to his back. Harris was flown by the Virginia State Police Med-Flight to Bristol Regional Medical Center in Bristol, Tenn., where he was treated and released.
The SPD’s preliminary investigation revealed that Harris and Michael Anthony Ferley, 19, also of Saltville, had been in a fight concerning the 16-year-old. According to the police department’s report, Ferley stabbed Harris three times with a hunting knife.
Ferley, according to the SPD, had left the scene, but was taken into custody without incident after an approximately hour-long manhunt by Saltville officers and the Virginia State Police.
Ferley was charged with maliciously stabbing with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill, a felony. Ferley is being held without bond in the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Abingdon.
Sgt. J.C. Robinson and Investigator J.W. Puckett of the Saltville Police Department are continuing the investigation.
—Staff Report