Stabbing suspect arraigned
CHARLES TOWN – A Shepherds-town man was arraigned Monday on one count of felony malicious wounding in connection to a stabbing in April that left one person hospitalized.
A warrant charging Travis James Duncan, 20, of Martinsburg Pike, in connection to the stabbing was issued last month. He was released from custody Monday after posting $5,000 bail.
According to court records, on Sunday, April 19, at about 1:56 a.m. Sr. Trooper J.A. Meeks of the West Virginia State Police was dispatched to a home at 8074 Martinsburg Pike for a report of a stabbing.
The victim, 25-year-old Ryan Patrick Berger, of Boonsboro, Md., was stabbed three times in the back, and had a cut on his left arm. Berger was flown to Winchester Medical Center as a result of his injuries and was released later that morning.
While at the scene, Meeks spoke with the homeowner about what happened. The man said that a fight had taken place between two other men, and then Duncan stabbed Berger, records show.
The two men who were fighting had already left the home, the homeowner said.
Meeks was unable to immediately locate them.
The following day, Meeks met with Berger, who had been treated and released from the hospital, to obtain a statement about the incident. Berger told Meeks that he was at his friend’s house when he saw one of his friends get into a verbal argument with another man.
He said he then saw Duncan going after his friend, so he grabbed him. Berger said they fell to the ground and that was when Duncan stabbed him in the back and cut his wrist. Duncan, he said, then got up and took off running.
Two days later on April 22, Meeks interviewed Duncan at the Charles Town Detachment of the West Virginia State Police about the incident.
In a two-page statement, Duncan said that he he and a friend were at a party and his friend ended up getting into a fight with another man. Duncan said that some more people then jumped into the fight and were kicking his friend. He said that was when he jumped in to try and break it up. Duncan said three of the men then started to try and fight him, so he pulled out his knife and stabbed one of them.
That broke up the fight, he said, and he took off running. He said he still had the knife when he took off running, but but couldn’t recall what happened to it after that.
If convicted, Duncan faces two to 10 years in prison.