Andrews – A jailhouse beef may have been the motive for a stabbing attack that occurred on a town street.

    A 29-year-old man suffered six cut wounds after a drive-by stabbing on the morning of Dec. 21. A witness told an emergency dispatcher that she and the victim were walking when someone driving a black Ford Ranger pulled up beside them.
    “They pulled up beside us, jumped out of the vehicle and stabbed him,” the woman said, according to a copy of the 911 call obtained by the Cherokee Scout through a public records request.
    The incident happened around 4 a.m. near the intersection of Sixth and Chestnut streets, according to police who say they found the victim and a companion near the steps of Andrews Elementary School.
    The witness told a dispatcher the incident happened about three minutes prior to when she called for help, and that the victim was “about to pass out” from loss of blood.
    “It’s very bad. It’s very, very deep,” she said, describing one of the stab wounds. “It’s in the back of his shoulder blade, like in the crease of where his arm bends ... very deep, like 3 inches at least.”
    During the five minutes and 45 seconds before police arrived, the dispatcher told the witness to keep the victim awake and tried to obtain more information about the attack. The witness said three people were in the vehicle, and she identified two of them by name. She also relayed the direction in which the suspects fled.
    After the witness removed the victim’s shirt and counted the number of visible stab wounds, the dispatcher asked whether she was aware of any “previous beef” between the victim and the person who stabbed him.
    “I don’t know. I guess they fought in jail,” the witness said. “I guess they had a fight in jail or something. I don’t know ... um, a while back.”
    The victim was flown to a hospital out of Cherokee County, where he was listed in stable condition Friday.
    The suspect, identified as 25-year-old Dustin Aaron Pressley, was arrested by members of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 26 following a 45-minute standoff. Officers were searching for him in connection with several outstanding warrants when they received a tip that Pressley was in a home on Maltby Road in Marble around 7:45 p.m. Thursday.
    “He barricaded himself in the house and wouldn’t come out,” Cherokee County Sheriff Derrick Palmer said. “There was a concern that he might try to hurt himself with a weapon that was in the house.
    “To my knowledge, he never threatened law enforcement with it. But that’s the reason why we didn’t immediately go in the house and get him. We wanted to convince him to come out peacefully, and luckily he did.”
    It’s unclear whether the other people in the car with Pressley will face charges for their alleged roles in the stabbing.