A Leesburg handyman was arrested after allegedly stabbing a neighbor, requiring him to be airlifted to save his life.
Kenneth Haugen, 51, is facing felony charges of aggravated assault and aggravated battery following his arrest Thursday by the Leesburg Police Department.
The arrest came three days after Haugen’s neighbor was stabbed, leaving him with a collapsed lung. Officers responded Sunday night to the Emergency Room at Leesburg Regional Medical Center.
“I was advised the victim was bleeding internally and would have died if not treated immediately,” the arresting officer wrote in the report.
The staff was preparing the man, who was semi-conscious, to be airlifted to a trauma center, the report said. The man said he had confronted Haugen because he was “being loud on his phone outside his residence at 209 Hanson Avenue.”
He said Haugen pointed a Ruger 9mm SR9 directly at him as they stood within arm’s reach of each other. The man said he slapped Haugen’s gun away and Haugen then drew a knife and stabbed him in the chest.
When Haugen was initially interviewed by police, he admitted he had gotten off work and consumed four beers and two large cups of a mixed drink which contained Jack Daniels and Mountain Dew. He was not immediately arrested.
Police reinterviewed the victim on Wednesday and said he did not know Haugen by name, but knew his work van. Haugen has worked for more than 30 years as a service technician for Mr. Handyman, according to the company’s website.
The man said a month earlier he had another confrontation with Haugen. The man said he had been riding his motorcycle by Haugen’s home and Haugen “ran out of his residence and confronted” him.
Haugen was booked at the Lake County Jail and released after posting $10,000 bond.
