Resident charged after stabbing incident in Hempfield Towers elevator

A state trooper wrapped a tourniquet around the bleeding leg of a man at Hempfield Towers Sunday after a reported stabbing in an elevator, according to court papers.

The wounded man was taken by ambulance to a hospital for treatment, police said.

Troopers took Timothy Paul Wetzel, 30, who is a resident at the towers, into custody. He was found in the front courtyard of the apartment complex with a knife next to him, police said.

Witnesses reported that Wetzel got on the elevator on the sixth floor around 7:30 p.m. and directed a racial epithet and threats of violence at the man who would eventually be stabbed, according to court papers. After the elevator reached the lobby, Wetzel went outside and admitted to stabbing the man, witnesses told authorities. Troopers said there was blood on the inside and outside of the elevator.

Wetzel is charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats, public drunkenness and related offenses. He was being held at the Westmoreland County Prison on $10,000 bail. He did not have an attorney listed in online court records.