Student is stabbed at 34th and Market

A graduate student said Friday that he was stabbed last Sunday in an incident that mirrors two other stabbings near campus last week. The Dental School student said he was returning alone from the 34th and Market streets subway station at about 7 p.m. when he was stabbed in the back. He said the attack was unprovoked and that his assailant asked for money only after stabbing him. The student reported the incident to Philadelphia Police. The detective in charge of the case could not be reached for comment and it is not known if there is a suspect. He said he did not plan to publicize the incident until he learned of two similar stabbings in the area. A 1990 University graduate said he suffered a punctured lung early last Sunday morning in a robbery near 41st and Chestnut streets, and a student said he witnessed a local man being stabbed in the shoulder at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday during another mugging. The Dental School student said the assailant's actions and demeanor led him to believe he was the victim of the same criminal. "I believe, from the way he acted and the description, that it must be the same guy," he said. In both other incidents, the victims were apparently stabbed without warning and the assailant became very agitated and started screaming at them. 1990 graduate Brian Felsen said last week the man who attacked him was black, with short cropped hair and thick glasses. He said his asailant stabbed him with a butcher knife. The Dental School student, who told his story on the condition that his name not be released, said his attacker matched this description. He said his attacker also wielded a butcher knife and screamed at him. "He just attacked," he said. "He stabbed you first and then started screaming." He said the attacker's glasses made him sure it was the same man. "You don't see those kind of glasses on another person very often," he said. The student said he was walking toward campus when he felt a blow to his back. At the time, he said, he did not realize he had been stabbed. He said he turned and saw the man thrust the knife at him again. After the student dodged the knife, the man started yelling. "He was screaming, 'I got you, I got you,' " he said. "I said, 'Get out of here. I have no money.' " The man then ran away, the student said. He hailed a taxi and asked the driver to look at his back. Only when the driver told him he saw blood did he realize he had been stabbed, he said. The cab driver took him to HUP for treatment. He said the injury to his back was just to the right of his spine. Although doctors were initially concerned he might have suffered damage to his spine or one of his lungs, the student said he has no major injuries. He said he must return to the hospital daily to change his bandages. According to the victim, a Philadelphia Police officer visited him in the emergency room and told him a detective would call him. He said he has received no phone calls from the police. The student added that the incident has made him want to leave the city and he is looking at houses in the suburbs. Staff writer Matthew Klein contributed to this article.

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