It was a brazen surprise attack on a sunny afternoon on Washington, D.C.'s H. Street in the northeast part of the city. A staffer for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was walking down the sidewalk with a friend, while holding a paper bag after leaving a restaurant.
In security footage, you see the shocking moments that a man comes rushing at the two with weapon and starts stabbing one of the men. They are knocked down in the struggle and you hear one of the men yell, "What the f***!?"
Then one of the men is able to free himself from the attacker a bit and move towards the top, and you hear someone yell, "Go away, go away!"
As they yell, "run! run!" the attacker straightens the hood of his jacket and walks off, leaving what appears to be the silver weapon behind, laying on the sidewalk.
Other pedestrians walk by, appearing not to realize what had just happened. One reaches down to pick up what could have been a mobile phone.
Another individual is heard talking on the phone to what sounds like the police.
In a police report obtained by Scripps News, the reporting party is named as Cole Mowrer.
The security camera video was played last month in D.C. Superior Court during a preliminary hearing for 42-year-old Glynn Neal.
Prosecutors said during a hearing in July that the attack happened just a day after Neal was released from prison. In 2011 he was convicted for multiple charges including threats to injure or kidnap a person, forcing a person into prostitution and for obstruction of justice, according to reports.
The video was released voluntarily by the U.S. Attorney's Office to Scripps News without judicial intervention after the Washington Post filed a motion requesting that D.C. Superior Court Judge Anthony C. Epstein become involved.
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Police said that at around 5:18 p.m. on March 25, they were called to the 1300 block of H St. NE in Washington, D.C. to respond to reports of a stabbing. Police said when they arrived to the scene the suspect was not there.
The victim, Phillip Todd, a staffer for Sen. Rand Paul, was receiving medical treatment for stab wounds after Mowrer reported the incident, according to a police report.
Police said their witness in the case, Todd's friend Christopher Barnard who was walking with Todd at the time of the attack, was there when a man who was "hiding in a corner" came out and lunged at them with a weapon before the struggle.
The police report said the man "popped out of the corner and proceeded to stab" Todd "with a knife multiple times."
Barnard told police Todd was able to grab Neal's arms while Barnard said he was able to tackle Neal "to the ground leading to a struggle between" them. The two then said they ran down the sidewalk to get away.
Another witness told police they saw Todd on the ground bleeding from the head and both helped Todd attend to his wounds while they waited for medics and police to arrive.
Barnard was not wounded in the attack.
The Washington Post reported that Neal was arrested hours later after his cellphone was found near Todd's bloody phone and jacket on a sidewalk.
Police said Neil claimed, “a voice was telling him that someone was going to get him for all the things he done.”
Neal's next court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 8.
Todd was hospitalized and treated for serious injuries after the attack including brain bleed and a punctured lung which required multiple surgeries.
Neal was charged with assault with the intent to kill.
On Tuesday, D.C. Council member Trayon Whitecalled for the National Guard to be activated to help patrol streets in the city to help with a crisis of rising violence.
White urged city leaders to help at a news conference held at the scene of a mass shooting on Saturday on Good Hope Road in the Southeast section of the District of Columbia.
White said residents are hearing gunfire all the time, and called that neighborhood a "warzone."
"Enough is enough," he said.
In July, Washington, D.C.'s council passed an emergency crime bill to try and crack down on the escalating violence across the city. The legislation would make it easier to detain adults and juveniles before they go to trial.
Police data showed that homicideswere up 17 percent in the city in July compared to the same time last year. Violent crime spiked by 33 percent compared to the same time last year.
