A congressional staffer for Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was stabbed multiple times on Saturday in Washington, D.C., according to local authorities and the office of Sen. Paul.
“This past weekend a member of my staff was brutally attacked in broad daylight in Washington, D.C. I ask you to join Kelley and me in praying for a speedy and complete recovery, and thanking the first responders, hospital staff, and police for their diligent actions,” Paul said in a statement, according to Fox 5. “We are relieved to hear the suspect has been arrested. At this time we would ask for privacy, so everyone can focus on healing and recovery.”
Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to reports of a stabbing on the 1300 block of H Street on Saturday just after 5 p.m.
The victim was located and transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, including multiple stab wounds.
Police arrested 42-year-old Glynn Neal in connection with the attack and charged him with assault with intent to kill.
Neal had just been released from prison one day before the attack, Federal Bureau of Prisons records show. Neal was previously imprisoned for almost 12 years for threatening two North Carolina women in an effort to make them engage in prostitution.
“We are relieved to hear the suspect has been arrested. At this time we would ask for privacy so everyone can focus on healing and recovery,” Paul said in his statement, according to ABC News.
In a similar incident earlier this year, Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) was assaulted in her Washington, D.C., apartment building, suffering minor injuries. Craig, 50, defended herself from an attacker in her building’s elevator around 7:15 a.m. and “suffered bruising, but is otherwise physically okay,” according to a statement from her chief of staff, Nick Coe.
Craig told police at the time that she first saw the alleged attacker in the lobby “acting erratic as if he was under the influence on an unknown substance,” according to a police report tweeted by CNN reporter Melanie Zanona.
The lawmaker said “good morning” and they followed her into the elevator, “began to randomly do push ups,” and then “with a closed fist punched her on the chin area of her face, and later grabbed her neck.”
