This may be an awful first--and we hope it's the last instance of its kind. A man in a bookstore stabbed another man. It happened on Tuesday at about 1:45 p.m. in a Books-A-Million in Tallahassee, Fla.
According to police reports (via WCTV), a man walked into the store and stabbed the victim, who was sitting inside. Carrying the bloody knife, the man then walked back outside and was apprehended in nearby woods. He was identified as John McFarland, 41, and has been charged with attempted murder. According to police, the victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Police added that the two men did not know each other. The store closed for the rest of the day but reopened yesterday.
Several local residents expressed shock that something like this could happen in the "safe haven" of a bookstore. As Meira Valencia put it to WCTV: "Honestly I'm a little bit worried because something so ominous and dangerous happened in a place where people actually find peace."