KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Violent crime is down in Knoxville; this is the big picture takeaway from the Knoxville Police Department’s preliminary 2025 priority crime report. However, while violent crime dropped across the board, there were increases in a couple of different areas, including a 2% rise in aggravated assault.
A Knoxville man, who chose to remain anonymous, was out with his wife on Christmas Day enjoying a movie, Christmas lights, and dinner. While walking home that evening near the intersection of Gay Street and Depot Avenue the man was attacked. An incident that has changed how the couple feels about walking their city streets.
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“It was Christmas and we were just walking home talking. And all of a sudden we heard a loud scream and something hit me in the back of the head,” he said.
The Knoxville man and his wife take many walks to get their steps in, but this walk home was different. Struck in the head multiple times with a metal pole and left stunned, he dodged swing after swing while protecting his wife, before finally taking the attacker to the ground.
“He said, ‘I want your money.’ And I said, ‘if you’ll just please stop, we’ll give you our money.’ And he said something like ‘no, all of it, everything, or I’ll kill you.’ And I mean, we thought we were going to die,” he recalled. “This was a 30-year-old white male. We found out he was on drugs and as we were wrestling down there, trying to protect ourselves, syringes fall out of his backpack all over the ground.”
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After several minutes of struggle, nearby witnesses called 9-1-1 and Knoxville police responded. The man said he was left a ‘bloody mess’ and the attack has deeply affected both him and his wife, leaving them wary of going out for their walks…