BELLINGHAM - A father was arrested on suspicion of stabbing his teenage son in the arm with a kitchen knife at an apartment Sunday, Jan. 6.
The 19-year-old victim was helping his dad, William Gene McComas, 46, move to the 2600 block of Maplewood Avenue when they started shouting at each other at 1 p.m., said Bellingham police spokesman Mark Young.
Young declined to say what the argument was about. But it got heated enough, he said, that McComas grabbed a knife with an 8-inch blade and stabbed his son in the arm. The blade penetrated the son's down jacket and punctured his bicep. The teen was rushed to St. Joseph hospital by ambulance.
McComas admitted to the stabbing, Young said. He was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence assault in the second degree. A woman at the apartment had a no-contact order against McComas, so he's facing criminal charges for that, too.
Both the son and his father told police they had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana before the argument.
Court records show McComas has a history of domestic violence. He's awaiting trial in a case from May 2012, when he called 911 saying his girlfriend attacked him with a knife and locked herself in the bathroom of their McKenzie Avenue home.
In reality, prosecutors alleged, McComas was high and cut himself on purpose. Then he told his girlfriend she "deserved to die," so she hid in the bathroom, according to charging documents. From behind the door, she allegedly heard him threatening to "cut" her.
Paramedics arrived to find McComas bleeding from his legs, with blood all over his hands. According to the charges, he told them he wanted to get a gun to shoot his girlfriend and himself. Prosecutors charged him with felony harassment.
Reach Caleb Hutton at 360-715-2276 or caleb.hutton@bellinghamherald.com. Read his dispatcher blog at blogs.bellinghamherald.com/dispatcher or follow him on Twitter at @bhamcrime.
