KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A University of Tennessee student is facing attempted murder charges following an altercation with another student.
UT Police said 19-year-old Michael Francis tried to stab a male student inside a residence early Friday and cut a female student on the finger during the dispute, WVLT reports. Hours before the attack, Francis vowed to kill the male student because he was with the female student, according to arrest warrants.
Officers responded to the fourth floor of Laurel Hall around 3:20 a.m. where they found a student lying on his back in the hallway being assisted by paramedics. The student told officers that Francis confronted him in the hallway and hit him in the back of the head when he tried to pass. The victim was then thrown to the ground and dislocated his shoulder. Francis then allegedly pulled a kitchen knife from his pocket and attempted to stab him.
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The victim was able to kick the knife away from Francis but a female who tried to intervene was cut on the finger, according to WBIR. The male victim was taken to a local hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
According to court records, another female reported interacting with Francis a few hours before the incident. She said he was acting erratic and upset that the male victim was in the female victim’s room. When she asked him to leave, he reportedly said he’d wait on the couch for the male victim to leave “so he could kill [the victim] and go out in this world with a positive k/d ratio,” a term used in video games to describe how many kills a player gets before they die.
Francis fled the scene but was later located by authorities near World’s Fair Park. He was booked into the Knox County Regional Jail and charged with one count of attempted murder and one count of criminal trespass. Francis has since been released and is due in Knox County General Sessions Court on Tuesday.
