Two intoxicated, homeless men who were trying to cook a frozen pizza on a barbecue pit at a waterfront park got into a fight that ended with a stabbing early Monday evening, according to Oak Harbor police.
Police Chief Rick Wallace said investigators are still trying to piece together the details, but one man is in jail and one man is in the hospital.
Police received a report of a fight in the RV Park on Beeksma Drive at about 4:45 p.m. They got a second call of a stabbing victim at the nearby 7-Eleven store.
“Officers found an individual who had obviously been in a fight and had a puncture wound to the side of his lower abdomen,” Wallace said.
A short time later, officers found the suspect, 50-year-old William Lounsberry, at the RV park. He also had obviously been in a fight, Wallace said.
Paramedics transported Lounsberry to the hospital, where he was treated and released. Officers then arrested him on suspicion of second-degree assault.
Based on the investigation so far, Wallace said the two transient men were “intoxicated to a certain degree” while they were trying to cook a pizza on an outdoor grill at the beach. They got into a fist fight over something — apparently unrelated to the pizza — and gave each other “significant facial injuries,” the chief said.
According to Wallace, Lounsberry pulled out some type of edged weapon and stabbed the other man, 47-year-old Larry Gullage, in the side.
“It was a serious stab wound,” Wallace said. “It nicked two small arteries and caused a significant amount of blood loss, but I understand it was not life threatening.”
Wallace said investigators don’t believe it was a case of self defense, but they still have a lot of work to do on the case. They haven’t recovered the weapon.
Gullage was in stable condition after undergoing surgery at Whidbey General Hospital, a spokesperson said Tuesday afternoon.
According to the police chief, detectives are also looking into another assault that occurred at approximately the same time in the same area. A man was pushed off his bicycle and landed on his face, then rode an Island Transit bus to the hospital.
