A newspaper carrier was stabbed early Wednesday morning on a route in the Essex area and retaliated by pinning the attacker against a fence with his car, until the man broke free and ran away, police said.
Officers caught up with the suspect on a nearby street, hiding in a boat on a parked trailer, a Baltimore County police spokeswoman said.
William Shull, 64, who was delivering newspapers for The Baltimore Sun when he was stabbed, was taken to Bayview Hospital, Sgt. Vicki Warehime said. He was listed in critical condition Wednesday afternoon. Police did not release the name of the suspect they arrested.
“We?re very concerned for [Shull?s] well-being and for his family,” said Lou Maranto, vice president of circulation for The Sun. “Obviously our thoughts and prayers are with” them, he said.
Shull has been a carrier for the company for more than 10 years, Maranto said. He declined to comment further on the incident until more is known about Shull?s condition.
Police were first alerted to the stabbing by a succession of calls that came in at about 4:25 a.m. Wednesday, Warehime said. Neighbors reported an apparent hit-and-run in the unit block of Stemmers Run Road, she said, followed shortly by a man on a pay phone at a gas station down the street, saying he?d been stabbed.
Officers got to the neighborhood and figured out the calls were related: Shull was delivering newspapers when the attacker came up and stabbed him in the chest, Warehime said.
Shull tried to run the man over and pinned him up against a fence with his car, she said, but the fence gave way and the man ran off into nearby woods.
The newspaper carrier hit a tree pulling out of a driveway, but continued on to the gas station, where he called for help, Warehime said. Officers followed a police dog that picked up the suspect?s scent through the woods, out onto the 1500 block of Old Eastern Avenue and up to the boat, she said.
Shull?s family did not return calls seeking comment.
Warehime said police are investigating the incident as possibly being related to a robbery.
A newspaper was found at the crime scene, she said, still wrapped in plastic, lying on the sidewalk.
