Students who witnessed the stabbing outside Stillwaters Bar early Saturday morning are stumped as to why such violence took place that night.
University of Wisconsin sophomore Seth Levin witnessed the incident. He said he and his friends copied down the license plate number of the attacker but are still waiting to hear from police for further details.
The stabbing occurred around 2:15 a.m. April 25 when the victim was leaving Stillwaters, located on State Street. The victim received a non-threatening stab wound to his liver and underwent minor surgery at the hospital following the attack, according to Levin, who is also a friend of the victim.
“Basically, when bar time started, there were about four [individuals around us]; they may have been Madison locals,” Levin said. “One of them got in my friend’s face.”
Levin and his friends, all UW students and witnesses to the attack, said they were surprised at how quickly the level of violence escalated. Levin said the attack itself was hard to describe because it happened so fast and there was no real fighting or talking between the attacker and the victim.
Levin said his friend told the attacker not to touch him, since he was standing too close. According to Levin, the victim was then pushed and stabbed in the crowded bar.
“These guys were just in everyone’s business and we were about to fight when [my friend] was pushed and stabbed,” Levin said. “It was the most unnecessary thing ever; there weren’t even punches being thrown.”
Levin said at first he did not know his friend was stabbed. Instead, he thought his friend was just pushed. He said the knife was not visible until the attacker put it away after the stabbing.
There were no police officers present during the incident, so Levin said he and his friends followed the group of about four out of Stillwaters, where they were able to write down the license plate number of the attacker’s car.
Levin said he gave the number to the Madison Police, but he has not heard whether the attacker has been found.
Levin stressed the importance of being careful around bar time, especially since college students and partygoers tend to be intoxicated and riled up.
“You just have to be aware of who you’re messing with,” Levin said. “Most of the time there are small fights are between drunken college students at bar time and there aren’t knives involved.”
UW senior Dan Andrews was also the victim of a random violent incident.
” … About two weeks ago, I was walking home with a friend at about 2:30 a.m. and two random guys confronted us and started throwing punches, even though we had not provoked anything.”
Andrews agrees safety around bar time is becoming a bigger issue.
“As long as you’re walking home with friends and you’re minding your own business, you are going to be relatively safe,” he said.
Andrews said he still feels safe walking around campus, even after his own attack.
“Anything can happen on this campus. People do stupid things, especially somewhere like outside Stillwaters or on University Avenue, where you have five to 10 bars all clearing out at once.”