TEXARKANA, Texas–A suspect in the stabbing last month of a Texarkana man is being held in the Bowie County jail with bail at $125,000.
Yahir Barboza-Valerio, 22, shoved a blade into the abdomen of a man who stopped his SUV on April 20 as he was driving down Connella St. in Texarkana, Texas, to ask why he and his companions were throwing beer bottles at his car, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Barboza-Valerio and several other men were reportedly outside when officers arrived at around 2 a.m. in response to a disturbance call. A man in the group who spoke English allegedly told the officers that they had been in an altercation with another group of men who threw bottles at them but investigators were puzzled by the presence of a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban which had been abandoned in the intersection of Connella and Milam Streets.
A 41-year-old man who sought treatment at an emergency room for an abdominal stab wound told police a different story during an interview at the hospital at about 5 a.m. He reported that he was driving down Connella and was nearing the Milam Street intersection when his vehicle was struck by beer bottles coming from a yard in the 300 block of Connella. The man said he was on his way to pick up his daughter from a friend’s house and did not know the men throwing the bottles.
He told investigators he stopped and got out of the SUV to ask the men why they were throwing bottles at his car and that one of the men, later identified as Barboza-Valerio, had walked up and stabbed him with a knife. The stabbing victim then ran down the street to a friend’s house for help, leaving his SUV behind.
Using information from social media, police were able to identify Barboza-Valerio as a suspect and the stabbing victim allegedly identified him as the person who stabbed him.
Barboza-Valerio has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and faces two to ten years if convicted. He is currently being held in the Bowie County jail.
The case has been assigned to 202nd District Judge John Tidwell.
