PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — A 36-year-old man was arrested after stabbing a person more than 40 times on Monday at a convenience store in Punta Gorda, according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies say Edmond Clarke stabbed a person repeatedly in the head, neck, and torso at the Trading Post at Burnt Store Marina.
Detectives learned from surveillance video that Clarke and the person entered the store, then minutes later, without warning, "Clarke took a pair of scissors from the counter and began stabbing the victim multiple times before retrieving several other knives and continuing the brutal attack, which lasted for several minutes," deputies wrote on Facebook.
Watch the surveillance video here.
The person was airlifted to Gulf Coast Medical Center, where they underwent emergency surgery, deputies say.
The sheriff's office says Clarke is charged with attempted murder.
“This disgusting crime will not be tolerated in Lee County,” said Sheriff Carmine Marceno. “I am proud of the quick response of our deputies that helped save the victim’s life, and the hard work of my detectives to take Clarke off the street.”