Benton police on Thursday morning arrested a man charged in a stabbing that caused four nearby schools to lock down briefly.
Officers around 9 a.m. responded to a report of a stabbing on Cox Street and found the wounded person before identifying Nathaniel Vasquez, 26, as the suspect, a police news release states. Vasquez fled but police arrested him before 9:30 a.m.
The victim received medical treatment for their wounds, but Benton police spokesman Lt. Quinton Jackson wasn’t able to provide their name or any information about them Thursday morning.
There was no threat inside the schools, Jackson said, but out of caution nearby Benton High School, Benton Junior High School, Benton Middle School and Angie Grant Elementary were locked down with no one allowed in or out. The lockdown was lifted by 9:30 a.m. when police arrested Vasquez.
Vasquez didn’t yet appear in the Saline County jail’s inmate roster on Thursday morning.
Grant Lancaster
Grant Lancaster covers crime, policing and breaking news for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. A Little Rock native, his articles focus primarily on crime and law enforcement efforts in Pulaski County, although he reports on other parts of the state as well.
