By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – A 32-year-old man was stabbed three times Friday during a fight on a LaPlace street corner that St. John the Baptist Parish authorities say is becoming a crime hotspot.

Deputies were called out to the intersection of Yorktowne Drive and Newport Drive around 10:55 a.m. Friday and found the victim near the scene. The victim was conscious and alert but had suffered two puncture wounds to his back and one to his abdomen, said Capt. Dane Clement, public information officer for the St. John Sheriff’s Office.

The victim was transported to Ochsner Hospital, where he was treated for his injuries.

Clement said the victim told deputies he had stopped at the intersection to speak to an acquaintance, who was standing on the corner. The conversation escalated into an argument, and while the two men were arguing, an unidentified man approached and stabbed the victim three times. Clement said detectives do not know why the men were arguing. He said the victim did not know the man who stabbed him and only described him as short and bald-headed.

Friday’s stabbing comes on the heels of a shooting near the same intersection in the previous week. An 18-year-old man was shot in the thigh during an incident on Oct. 1. Deputies arrested a suspect, 22-year-old Antonio Eugene, four days later on Oct. 5.

St. John Sheriff Wayne Jones said the intersection has become an area of heightened crime and that he is in the process of generating more police presence in the area. Jones said he is assigning deputies from the Felony Intercept Unit and criminal patrol division to patrol the area.

“We are taking a proactive approach to address these incidents so that it doesn’t get more out of hand in that area,” Jones said.

Anyone with information regarding the stabbing is asked to call St. John Sheriff’s detectives at 985-359-8769 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.