A Cortez man is suspected of felony assault after a stabbing incident Halloween night, a Durango police spokesman said on Monday.
Jimmy Wayne Mahan, 38, was taken into police custody around 2 a.m. Sunday morning. He is out on $25,000 bail.
Lt. Ray Shupe said police believe Mahan was involved in a fight at the Durango Downtown Inn on Camino del Rio where an unconscious victim was found in the parking lot.
“We’re not 100 percent it was (Mahan), but we suspect it is,” Shupe said.
Before police arrived for that call, Mahan is suspected of fleeing from the parking lot and attempting to enter another individual’s room at the hotel to hide. When the person, 22-year-old Austin Short, also from Cortez, refused to let him in, Mahan stabbed him with a knife under the left armpit.
Short was taken to Mercy Regional Medical Center with injuries that were not life-threatening. He was treated and released, Shupe said.
Shupe wasn’t sure how Mahan and Short wound up at the hotel together, but he did say the two knew each other.
“They used to work together,” he said.
Police are still investigating the man who was found unconscious in the parking lot, and further charges could be pending. Shupe did not immediately have information on that victim’s identity.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
