57-year-old charged with 1st-degree felony for stabbing man

Stabbing break-in
A man was hospitalized after being stabbed while protecting a woman during an early morning residential break-in on the 200 West block of 300 South, St. George, Utah, Dec. 30, 2015 | Photo by Michael Durrant, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Police filed formal charges Wednesday against a 57-year-old man involved in a residential break-in and stabbing in St. George that left one man in a hospital Intensive Care Unit. A neighbor said the bloody ordeal was so terrifying, it will scar her for the rest of her life.

Gregory James McClary, of St. George, Utah, booking photo posted Dec. 30, 2015 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News
Gregory James McClary, of St. George, Utah, booking photo posted Dec. 30, 2015 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

The suspect would later tell police that he had “hooked a subject with the knife and wished he had cut him clean open,” according to a probable cause statement filed by the St. George Police Department in support of the arrest.

Gregory James McClary, of St. George, was arrested Wednesday and booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility following a police investigation of a stabbing that occurred on the 200 West block of 300 South.

McClary was charged with first-degree felony aggravated burglary with injury or use of weapon; three third-degree felonies for aggravated assault and aggravated domestic violence assault; a class A misdemeanor for possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person; and two class B misdemeanors for threat of violence and domestic violence criminal mischief.

Bail for his release pending trial stands at $38,310. He is scheduled to make his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon in 5th District Court.

Stabbing break-in
A man was hospitalized after being stabbed while protecting a woman during an early morning residential break-in on the 200 West block of 300 South, St. George, Utah, Dec. 30, 2015 | Photo by Michael Durrant, St. George News

The incident began just before 4 a.m. Wednesday when McClary allegedly forced his way into a St. George residence owned by a 55-year-old woman. Investigators said that while McClary and the woman are considered to be cohabitants under statute, the two were not living together at the time of the incident.

During an investigation, the statement read, police determined McClary had been sending threatening messages via text and voicemail to the woman and two men at the home prior to his arrival.

After gaining entry to the home, McClary allegedly went to the woman’s bedroom and held a knife to her throat and physically assaulted her, according to the police report. In an attempt to protect the woman, a 35-year-old man and a 40-year-old man, one being a house guest and the other a tenant, intervened. During the struggle, the men were cut with the knife – the 35-year-old man was stabbed multiple times.

Neighbor, Maria Sandoval, posted the following account of the frightful ordeal to St. George News:

Never have I experienced something more terrifying than this! This will scar me for life. Waking up to someone yelling and banging on my house door to open to let him in. Hitting the Windows. Looking out the window and seeing a man all bloody kicking the front door, yelling to open the door, all the blood on our house Windows and porch, I couldn’t even even speak to the cop. I was so scared. But I’m glad my sister took the phone away from me to give them our address two minutes later the cops came. I have never been so horrified in my life.

“A 911 call was placed at that time and officers were on scene in less than 2 minutes,” according to the St. George Police Department.

The 35-year-old man was transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George with potentially life-threatening wounds to his head, neck and leg, police said. The man underwent surgery for the stab wounds and is being treated and monitored in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

The 40-year-old man was treated at the scene of the incident for a minor laceration, according to police. The woman did not sustain any injuries.

“There is no threat to the public,” the Police Department said in a statement Wednesday. “The parties involved in this incident are known to each other and the victims were specifically targeted; it was not a random act of violence.”

McClary, whom police saw leaving the residence with a “large knife,” was taken in for questioning and subsequently arrested.

During questioning, McClary told police he went to the residence to confront the woman and her boyfriend, the report stated. McClary said he was “smashed in the face by an unknown subject at which time he stabbed the subject.”

According to Utah Court records, McClary was charged with assault and criminal mischief in December 2013, but those charges were later dismissed without prejudice. Six days later, the woman involved in Wednesday morning’s incident filed for a protective order against McClary which was issued Jan. 3, 2014.

Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

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Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

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4 Comments

  • Billy Madison December 31, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    Holy Cow, we need knife control laws!

  • IDIOT COMMENTERS December 31, 2015 at 5:00 pm

    maybe he thought he was a pirate

  • .... December 31, 2015 at 8:26 pm

    Hey detective idiot. tell us all about it idiot wow ! Your really amazing idiot . did you figure that out all by yourself idiot ? Have a nice day idiot

  • sagemoon December 31, 2015 at 9:23 pm

    Scum bag

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