Suspect shot after stabbing at Rock Hill mosque

ROCK HILL, S.C. — A stabbing at a South Carolina mosque drew a significant police response Friday afternoon. It happened around 2 p.m. at Masjid Al Salaam on West Main Street in Rock Hill.

Police said when officers arrived at the mosque, they found no threats to the public.

Mosque spokesperson Jasiri Makadara said a man who had been attending for a few months came to one of their regular services Friday afternoon. The spokesperson said in the middle of service, “something set [the man] off” and he pulled out a knife.

That was when the assailant, identified as 27-year-old Travaughn West, stabbed someone inside.

“Everything else kind of happened at a blur,” said Naim Shabazz, the stabbing victim’s brother. “The rest of the incident (was a blur) because I was busy trying to tend to him.”

Shabazz was standing next to his brother when West walked up.

“I really didn’t notice,” Shabazz said. “I saw the guy come up to his right side and kind of swing at him. I didn’t really know what happened. At first, I thought it was some playful stomach punch.”

That was when his brother was stabbed.

“The moment he screamed he was stabbed and I looked down and I saw the blood coming through his shirt,” Shabazz said.

One of the mosque’s regular attendees works as a security guard, Makadara said. He had a gun on him and pulled it out to shoot West.

West took off and the security guard shot him one more time.

Police were able to quickly catch West on Laurel Street.

“(West) always seemed to be somewhat odd,” said Makadara.

The attacker wasn’t close to anyone at the mosque, he said.

“The way he would look at people, he seemed to be somewhat odd, but we don’t turn our backs on anybody,” Makadara said. “If you have said, ‘I believe in Allah. I believe in God,’ and you take the Shahada, that’s the oath to become a Muslim, then we accept you into the house of worship, so we accepted him.”

The victim is a co-owner of Shabazz Barber Shop, which has operated in Rock Hill since 1989. He’s expected to make a full recovery.

“It’s sad but it’s reality,” Shabazz said. “You know, sometimes, random things happen and sometimes random things happen to good people.”

West’s wounds weren’t serious, police said. He will be taken to jail when he is released from the hospital and charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and possession of a knife during a crime of violence.

Police don’t know what sparked the attack.

The attack was not religiously motivated.

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