By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
A Salina man was arrested after a stabbing incident at the Central Mall Wednesday night.
Officers were dispatched at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to the Central Mall, 2259 S. Ninth Street, for the report of a stabbing. The officers made contact with a mall security guard who told them she had been approached by several teens who told her of an adult male who was attempting to give them cigarettes and who invited them to his residence, according to Salina Police Captain Paul Forrester.
One of the teens called his father, Kenneth Brown, 41, of Salina, who showed up a short while later, confronted the man on the east side of Ross Dress for Less and told him to leave the teens alone, Forrester said.
The man, later identified as Michael Lilly, 61, of Salina, took a couple of swings at Brown, who then punched Lilly in the face, knocking him to the ground, Forrester said.
Brown turned to walk away and then realized that when Lilly had swung at him, he had done so with a knife. Brown discovered that he had two stab wounds in his side. Brown was transported to Salina Regional Health Center, where it was discovered that he also was suffering from a punctured lung, Forrester said.
In the meantime, Lilly had walked through Ross Dress for Less and was located in the center part of the mall. Forrester said Lilly was found to be in possession of a large, fixed-blade knife.
Lilly was arrested on a requested charge of aggravated battery, Forrester said. He has previous convictions for aggravated battery and criminal threat, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections.