Charge Elevated Against Homeless Man Accused Of Concord Hotel Knife Attack: Follow-Up

CONCORD, NH — A convicted assaulter and homeless man now located in Concord was held without bail after being arrested after a stabbing incident downtown on Thursday.

Victor Gareth Manns, 23, who previously pleaded guilty to assault earlier this year and had an active warrant for not showing up to Concord District Court on a second assault charge from August, was held on preventative detention after being arraigned in Merrimack County Superior Court Friday.

His charges included an elevated count of first-degree assault as well as second-degree assault, criminal threatening, and falsifying physical evidence counts, all felonies.

Also Read

• Homeless Man Faces Felony Charges After Downtown Concord Knife Attack
• Downtown Concord Stabbings Suspect Arrested On North State Street

During Friday’s hearing, a public defender entered pleas of “not guilty” on Manns’ behalf.

Judge Amy Ignatius requested bail recommendations from the prosecutor from the county attorney’s office and the defense attorney.

The prosecutor requested preventative detention, saying, in May, Manns cold-cocked a person in the face who was walking by him outside the Storrs Street Garage.

“The victim literally needed thousands of dollars of dental work done on his teeth,” he said. “The defendant was asked if he assaulted him, and he said, ‘Yes.’ He said he didn’t like the way the person looked at him.”

About a month ago, the prosecuting attorney said, Manns was arrested after being accused of assaulting another person with a Gatorade bottle on the Concord Transit bus.

“There are pending charges for that,” he said. “He’s out on bail for that.”

The prosecutor said Manns “didn’t know” the victims from Thursday but “didn’t like the way they were looking at him” and came over and began pounding on their car. He then stabbed one man in the leg and cut another, he said. Manns’ behavior, the prosecutor said, assaulting four people in less than a year, showed “he was a danger” to the community.

Ignatius asked about the Gatorade bottle case and the prior guilty plea for the assault. The prosecutor reshared information for the cases and reiterated that in all three cases, Manns was “unprovoked.”

The defense attorney, however, requested bail to be set at personal recognizance, with conditions, including agreeing to not possess weapons, drugs, or alcohol and no contact with the victim. She added the accused would be willing to enter into pretrial services. She said he appeared to be willing to enter into the program, although he did not participate in an interview with representatives of the program on Thursday morning.

“He is willing to sit down for an interview,” she said, “and be supervised by them.”

Despite what the prosecutor said, the defense attorney countered, Manns had “a limited prior criminal record,” with only one conviction. He was presumed innocent, she said. She added the affidavit showed the victims in the case appeared to make the first physical contact in the form of “several kicks,” with a video confirming that. She also said the incident was “two against one,” with one of the other parties using a table as a weapon.

“So,” she said, “I would suggest to the court that there may be issues of self-defense. I would also ask the court to note the injuries to the other parties also appear to be relatively minor, to hands and legs, and not vital areas of the body. I think one person went to the hospital and received one stitch.”

The prosecutor said the victims were in the state to visit a relative and say goodbye to them after they were struck by a vehicle earlier in the week. He challenged the assertion that they were the aggressors in the case.

“The defendant came over to them and drew a weapon first before they got out of the car,” he said. “They were simply trying to shoo him away … when he continued to threaten them with a knife, the individuals tried to disarm him, and he stabbed the person in the leg, and it required stitches … you can’t claim self-defense.”

Ignatius said she looked at the affidavit “pretty quickly before” and then eyed it again. After about a minute, she said Manns appeared to show the knife before the victims exited the car. She said the behavior was aggressive, dangerous, and unprovoked by a suspect already out on bail for another assault charge.

“That’s what’s alleged, and that’s all I have to work on at this point,” she said. “The state has made out its burden of dangerousness, and preventative detention is appropriate.”

Ignatius said evidentiary and bail hearings could be requested in the coming weeks to challenge her ruling.

More Details Released In Affidavit

According to a police affidavit, officers were sent to the Hotel Concord on South Main Street around 8:15 a.m. on Thursday for a stabbing report.

When officers arrived, they spoke with a hotel employee who stated a Black man attacked two white men who were guests at the hotel. The employee said the man was homeless and known to area businesses since he slept behind the building.

A description was given of the suspect while the victims were interviewed.

One victim told police he and the second man were from New York and in the city to “give their last wishes to a family member.” Police later learned the family member was struck and killed by a vehicle on South Street near the U.S. District Court on Tuesday.

The men left the hotel and entered a white Mercedes. The next thing they knew, the Black man was staring at them from across the street, outside the Concord Food Coop. The man said he found the behavior “suspicious,” so they locked the car's doors. The man then accused Manns of crossing the street and pounding on the driver’s side door of the Mercedes.

“(The man) told (the officer) that he cracked his window and asked the male what he wanted,” the affidavit said. “(The man) told (the officer) that the male yelled at him and (the second man) in a confrontational manner and postured outside of his vehicle.”

Manns was then accused of pulling a “kitchen-style knife” out, and the first man got out of the car and told him to go away. The report said Manns would not leave, and when the second man kicked toward him, “(Manns) stabbed him in the leg with a knife.”

The man who was not stabbed grabbed a table from O Steak and Seafood and hit Manns with it while also suffering lacerations to both of his forearms, the affidavit said. Manns was accused of grabbing the table, hitting the victim, and fleeing the area. The report said the victim with the minor lacerations chased Manns down South Main Street.

Concord fire and rescue teams were requested to tend to the victims, and the one with the leg injury was taken to Concord Hospital.

The victim was interviewed later and recounted a similar experience as the first man. He said he attempted to kick the knife out of Manns’ hand, and that was when he was stabbed “multiple times.” He then “pretended to call the police” before the suspect fled.

Despite being a busy morning downtown, only two witnesses called police to report the incident.

A dispatcher reviewed video footage from the Storrs Street garage, in the area of the south alley dumpster, which abuts the hotel, and accessed a photo of the suspect. Another officer identified the suspect as Manns “based on previous police contacts,” the report said.

The report said the video surveillance footage showed Manns crossing the street diagonally and approaching the car. The affidavit said he was holding “an apparent knife” in his hand while wearing gloves and a mask. An altercation ensued. While one of the victims attempted to kick toward Manns, a detective noted, “the suspect did not move back.” Only when the second kick attempt was made did he move, the report said.

One of the men picked up a table, that was on top of another table, and threw it at Manns, hitting him on the right side, the report said. Manns then picked up the table and went toward the victim. The victim was seen holding up his hands, “to protect himself,” before stepping out of view of the camera.

A camera near Hermanos Restaurant on Hills Avenue also captured a clear picture of Manns fleeing the scene with an apparent knife, holding “the blade of the knife out in front of his face,” the affidavit said. The cameras in the area, which are set off by motion detection, take screenshots and skip frames. In the next frame, the detective wrote, Manns was no longer holding the knife.

Bow’s K-9 unit was requested while more security footage from the area was examined.

At just before 9 a.m., the bloody knife was recovered by a Concord General Services employee in the garage.

A shop employee was interviewed and accused Manns of throwing a table at one of the victims. She claimed one of the victims had the knife “but could not describe (it)” and said “he put it in his back pocket.”

A second witness said she saw the men arguing in front of the business, with one man holding a table. Another man attempted to pick up a table outside the business. She described the suspect and accused him of swinging the table at one of the victims — who was struck in the shoulder and fell outside the business.

“I was in the (business) viewing all of this,” she said. “I locked the door.”

Around 10:30 a.m., while scouring the city, a parking enforcement officer spotted Manns on North State Street. A deputy sheriff, also assisting in the search, told dispatch he was out with the suspect.

Detectives questioned Manns and asked him if he was involved in the incident outside the hotel, and he said, “Yes,” the affidavit said.

“Victor did not wish to make any further statement,” a detective wrote.

Manns had an electronic bench warrant for nonappearance in Concord District Court on a simple assault charge. The warrant was issued on Sept. 15. He is due back in court on Nov. 8 for a dispositional conference.

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