After an alleged stabbing Jan. 4, a Juneau man was indicted this week on one count of first-degree assault and one count of second-degree assault.
Lucas Canton Schneider, 39, was arrested in the early hours of Jan. 5 under suspicion of stabbing Juneau man Christopher Wolfe. About 6:50 p.m. Jan. 4, Wolfe called the Juneau Police Department from his apartment on Fourth Street and reported Schneider was refusing to leave and had hit him, according to charging documents.
Less than 10 minutes later, a woman later identified as Ronnelle James called 911 and reported Schneider had stabbed Wolfe, then left the apartment. James described Schneider as a white male wearing a dark brown hat, a tan jacket and an orange backpack.
JPD officers arrived and searched the area but did not find Schneider, according to the charging documents. According to a JPD release at the time, Wolfe was taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital for injuries that were not life threatening. He was released soon afterward.
Officers interviewed witnesses, including Wolfe’s friend Phillip Drummer, who was in the apartment at the time. Schneider and another man, both of whom Drummer described as “visibly drunk,” had been trying to get into Wolfe’s apartment when Drummer arrived, but soon gave up after nobody responded.
They returned a few minutes later, and when Wolfe opened the door, Schneider immediately started fighting with Wolfe, Drummer told police. Both Drummer and Wolfe told police that the reason Wolfe opened the door was to let James and her young daughter into the apartment. Schneider, both Drummer and Wolfe told police, was just behind James and her daughter.
As soon as Wolfe called police, Schneider began to get ready to leave, Drummer recalled.
“Before I leave,” Drummer recalled Schneider saying, “I’m leaving you with this.”
Schneider then pulled out a knife, Drummer told police, and pushed Schneider against a light in the corner of the apartment. The apartment went dark, but Drummer saw Schneider made a stabbing motion to Wolfe’s stomach at least twice, he told police.
Drummer said Wolfe at first didn’t realize he had been stabbed and had thought Schneider had just punched him in the side. Wolfe then lifted his shirt and saw he had been stabbed, Drummer recalled.
James gave a similar statement to police, saying she didn’t know who either Schneider or Drummer were, but that she was there with her daughter and was primarily concerned with protecting her. James said she also heard Schneider say something to the effect of, “I’ve got something for you” before he attacked Wolfe. James also said Wolfe didn’t know he had been stabbed, but realized it shortly afterward.
When Dubois interviewed Wolfe at the hospital, Wolfe said he had known Schneider for only a couple weeks at the time of the incident. Wolfe said he had been staying with his friend for a couple weeks before the incident, helping the friend with his “medical conditions,” as Wolfe stated to police.
Schneider was also at this friend’s apartment, and on the day of the alleged stabbing, a group of four people in that apartment was sharing two bottles of vodka, Wolfe told police. Schneider was giving Wolfe grief for “being a provider” for their mutual friend and ended up head-butting Wolfe, as Wolfe said to police.
A few hours later, Wolfe said, the altercation in his apartment took place in the same fashion that both Drummer and James described. Wolfe also told police that he didn’t realize he was stabbed until he looked down and saw the wounds.
At 1:24 a.m. Jan. 5 — about six and a half hours after the alleged assault — police found Schneider on Franklin Street. He was wearing the same clothes described by James and Wolfe, and police found a small folding black knife on Schneider’s person.
During his interview with police, Wolfe said he and Drummer were friends from when they were in prison together. Online court records show multiple convictions for both Wolfe and Drummer.
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
