Suspect in stabbing in custody

BRICK TOWNSHIP - Florida police recently captured a township man named as a suspect in the stabbing of a Sawmill Road man earlier this month.

Jeady O. Bullard, 26, also of Sawmill Road, was apprehended on the evening of April 16 at a home in Lehigh Acres, a suburb of FortMyers in Lee County, Brick Police Lt. John E. Rein Jr. said.

"We always get our man," Rein said.

Brick police had developed information that Bullard was in Florida and notified authorities that he was wanted in connection with the stabbing of Elliot Starks, 23, Rein said.

"They tracked him down and locked him up Wednesday evening [April 16]," Rein said. "He tried to run out of the house, but they had the house surrounded. There was someone to greet him at the back door."

The stabbing occurred shortly after 11 a.m. April 9 in front of 190 Sawmill Road in the Maple Leaf Park condominium complex in the Herbertsville section of the township, police said.

A neighbor heard yelling and dialed 911. Police found Starks bleeding from stab wounds in the upper right arm and the left chest area.

Starks was listed in stable condition at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, as of press time, Rein said.

Bullard has been charged with aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes. His bail was set at $100,000, with no 10 percent option.

"Right now, the charges still stand as what was in the original warrant," Rein said.

Starks had been baby-sitting for his girlfriend's 6-year-old son at the time of the incident. The boy was not harmed, police said.

The two men appeared to have known each other and may have had some type of dispute over a mutual friend or girlfriend, Rein said.

The weapon, believed to be a knife, still has not been recovered, Rein said.