Ephrata man, teenage girlfriend charged for stabbing incident

EPHRATA — A Ephrata man allegedly ordered his 17-year-old girlfriend to stab a man in the leg with a kitchen knife.

Fernando Camarena Jr., 22, of Ephrata, was charged in Grant County Superior Court as an accomplice to second-degree assault. Camarena’s girlfriend, a 17-year-old girl from Ephrata, was charged in Grant County Juvenile Court with second-degree assault.

The two charges stem from an incident on June 24, when the Ephrata Police Department received a report of a stabbing at an apartment in the 500 block of C Street Northwest. The victim, who reportedly received a large stab wound to the middle of his right thigh, told police he was knocking on the juvenile suspect’s front door and Camarena answered the door.

An argument reportedly ensued about the time of the morning the victim knocked on the door, with the argument escalating into a physical alteration. The victim said he was fighting with Camarena, who pinned him on the ground, when Camarena told his girlfriend to get a knife and he was stabbed in the leg, according to police records.

Camarena told police the victim was knocking on the front door continuously for about an hour and he confronted the man with his girlfriend. He said the victim told them he had just gotten out of prison and threatened to stab them. Camarena stated he never saw the victim brandish a knife. He denied knowing anything about the stabbing and stated he wasn’t involved in it.

The girl's account of the incident was similar to Camarena’s. She said the victim was locked out of his apartment and was banging on the door of her apartment to wake them up. Her story differed from Camarena’s in that she said the victim was holding a pocket knife and had attacked them. She admitted to stabbing the victim in the leg with a kitchen knife, but claimed it was in self-defense.

The girl said it was “normal” for her to carry around a kitchen knife and denied the victim’s accusation that Camarena asked her to retrieve the knife during the incident.

“At one point during the conversation (the girl) made it seem like she used the knife she claimed (the victim) had to stab him,” wrote a officer. “I asked (the girl) if this was the case and she stated the knife was hers.”

Police were able to locate a kitchen knife in a sink at the apartment, which allegedly had blood on it. The girl confirmed the knife was the one she used to stab the victim.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.