Man allegedly stabs neighbor over trash dispute

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

Billy Joe Wright, 48, was arrested yesterday afternoon after allegedly stabbing a neighbor over an ongoing dispute.

According to the arrest report, an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to an apartment building in the Holly Heights area at about 1:00 p.m. yesterday. The victim said that he had confronted an upstairs neighbor about trash that was thrown on the ground and the neighbor became angry but went back to his apartment. The victim continued to sit outside his apartment with another man, and he said that the neighbor, later identified as Wright, came back downstairs, immediately approached the victim, punched him in the face, and stabbed him with an unknown object. The other man confirmed the victim’s account.

A short time later, Wright returned and was detained. Post Miranda, he reportedly told the deputy that he and the victim do not like each other and that he believed the victim had made threats on his life. Wright reportedly confirmed that the two had argued and that it had turned physical. He showed the deputy some marks on his face that he said were a result of the victim punching him. Wright reportedly told the deputy that after he was punched, he went back to his apartment to cool down, but that didn’t work, so he armed himself with what he initially said was a screwdriver, walked back down the stairs, and tried to stab the victim.

Following these statements, the deputy placed Wright under arrest and searched him, finding a butter knife in his pants pocket. Wright reportedly then said that the butter knife was the weapon used to stab the victim.

Wright has four violent felony convictions, with the most recent in 2019. He is being held on $15,000 bail.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.