Authorities in S.D. nab man connected to stabbings in Montevideo

WILLMAR -- The 21-year-old man wanted for allegedly stabbing three people outside of a downtown Montevideo bar has been arrested in Watertown, S.D.

According to Sgt. Ken Schule of the Montevideo Police Department, Victor Daniel Medina, of Montevideo, was arrested Thursday evening in a Watertown store after a person from the Montevideo area recognized him and called law enforcement.

Medina will ap-pear at 9 a.m. today in an extradition hearing in Codington County in South Dakota. If he waives extradition, he could be transported back to Chippewa County later in the day.

In Chippewa County District Court, Medina faces felony charges of first- and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and causing substantial bodily harm.

Medina is accused of stabbing three people around 2 a.m. Sept. 4 in a parking lot behind Inn Like Flinn's in downtown Montevideo. Two female victims, ages 22 and 31, suffered wounds to their stomachs and were treated at Chippewa County-Montevideo Hospital and Medical Clinic.

One of the women required surgery.

A 31-year-old man was airlifted to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis for treatment of knife wounds to the stomach. Investigators did interview the man a few days after the incident, Schule said.

At the time of the Sept. 4 incident, Medina was free on bail on another case related to a June 27 incident. Charges in that case include aiding and abetting an assault, second- and third-degree assault and tampering with a witness.

The allegations in that case include that he wielded a knife and cut a man and acted as a lookout while Joel Filiberto Medellin, 19, of Montevideo, allegedly beat a man and robbed him of $200 cash and a Blackberry cell phone. The 27-year-old man suffered a fractured skull. Both men are also accused of assaulting another man, who had voiced his displeasure about the beating and robbery.

-- Tribune Staff Writer Tom Cherveny contributed to this report.