Dakota Hayes (Manatee County Sheriff”s Office).
A Florida man is behind bars for stabbing his brother’s girlfriend in a brutal and prolonged attack that was only quelled when his sibling fought back by shooting him, Sunshine State police claim.
Dakota Michael Hayes, 21, stands accused of one count each of attempted murder in the first degree and aggravated assault with a knife, according to Manatee County court records.
The incident occurred earlier this month at the Hayes residence on 60th Drive East in Bradenton, according to a criminal complaint.
Police allege the violence was caused by a slow-motion series of events that simmered over the course of a day and into the next – finally culminating in the surprise knife attack and reprisal shooting.
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On Aug. 11, the defendant threatened to kill his brother’s girlfriend “multiple times,” the complaint alleges, citing the victim’s narrative. Those threats were allegedly preceded by Dakota Hayes being made “highly upset” by the woman “washing a dish in the sink.”
“The defendant threaten[ed] to kill her in front of everyone in the residence to include his mother,” the complaint reads. “[The brother’s girlfriend] was 100% sure that the defendant’s mother heard the threats and that was why they took the defendant away from the house and took him to his grandmother’s house. The victim stated that the defendant has been obsess[ed] with her for several years and he is a complete psycho.”
Still, the first day passed without further incident.
On the morning of Aug. 12, the brother’s girlfriend was “laying in her bed using her phone” when the defendant “busted through her door and immediately punched her with his left fist on the right side of her face,” according to the complaint. Then, Dakota Hayes allegedly pulled out the knife and stabbed the woman over and over and over.
The woman’s boyfriend – the defendant’s brother – rushed in and got the attacker away, the complaint continues. But the knife-wielding man allegedly would not stop and “attempted to go back after” the woman. So, the defendant’s brother “retrieved a firearm and shot.”
Both the victim and her alleged assailant were taken the Sarasota Memorial Hospital as trauma victims. The woman “received at least 11 stab wounds” to the back of [her] head, neck, and abdomen,” police said, and had to have “part of her intestine removed.” The defendant suffered two gunshot wounds – one to his left arm and one to his right hip and buttocks area.
A GoFundMe for the stabbing victim aims to help her relocate “because she mentally cannot go back to live in the house she was attacked in.”
Two other witnesses attested to a particularly kind of history with the defendant – though one that had never before risen to such a level.
“[The witnesses] stated that for the past few weeks Dakota Michael Hayes has been having episodes,” the complaint goes on. “They both advised they came over last night to take Dakota Michael Hayes to avoid issues. According to both they claim Dakota Michael Hayes has ‘Episodes’ but has never been violent.”
Dakota Hayes is currently being detained in the Manatee County Jail without bond, court and jail records show.
A competency hearing is currently slated for Sept. 25, court records show. The defendant is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 3.
