Police: There Was No Stabbing at the Trump Rally in Chillicothe

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CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The stabbing widely reported on social media Wednesday night outside President Donald Trump’s rally in Chillicothe did not happen, according to the Chillicothe Police Department.

Video from outside the Shoemaker Center showed a man seated on a curb with what appeared to be a pocket knife protruding from the left side of his lower back. The clip spread quickly online, and some outlets reported that a man had been stabbed outside the rally while the president spoke. One person was detained at the scene.

Officers move in to separate two men during a fight outside the Shoemaker Center on Wednesday night.

What police say actually happened

Chillicothe Police Captain Short told TMZ on Thursday that there was a fight outside the venue, and an officer who stepped in to break it up is the source of the knife in the video.

“There was no stabbing,” Short said. “The incident involved a fight, which an officer intervened to break up. The retention clip securing the officer’s pocketknife became caught in one of the individuals’ shirts during the altercation. The pocketknife did not open.”

The orange-handled pocketknife belonging to an officer, caught on a man’s shirt during the fight. Police say the knife never opened.

In other words, the knife belonged to the officer, it never opened, and it snagged on the man’s shirt while the fight was being broken up. Nobody was stabbed. To borrow the president’s own words for it: fake news.

No one booked overnight

Police have not released the names of the people involved in the fight, and no charges had been announced as of Thursday morning. A check of the Ross County Jail roster Thursday morning showed no one booked into the jail overnight in connection with the rally, and the sheriff’s calls for service log for Wednesday lists no stabbing or weapons call connected to the event.

Hopewell Heritage Headlines reported Wednesday night that a physical altercation had occurred outside the venue and that the reported stabbing could not be confirmed.

This story will be updated if police release names or charges in the fight.

Send a tip or correction to info@heritageheadlines.com.

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