COLUMBUS, IN — A man has been arrested for stabbing an ice skating instructor during an attack Friday morning at the Hamilton Center Ice Arena, according to the Columbus Police Department.
At 6:30 a.m. Friday, CPD officers were called to a disturbance in the parking lot of the Hamilton Center Ice Arena, located at 2501 Lincoln Park Drive. When officers arrived, they found a 34-year-old woman lying on the ground with a man bent over her. As officers approached, according to police, the man fled the area on foot.
According to CPD, the man who fled the scene, identified as Ryan T. Halligan, 29, of Columbus, was found hiding outside of a residence near the Hamilton Center and was taken into custody.
The assaulted woman, later identified as Emaly Baxter, was found injured due to a stabbing. Baxter was airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where she is listed in stable condition.
According to investigators, Baxter and Halligan do not know each other.
Officers on the scene report that Baxter had just arrived for work at Hamilton Center, where she's an ice skating instructor, when Halligan approached her in the parking lot. Baxter was able to get back into her car and attempted to drive away; however, Halligan crashed a stolen vehicle into her car and then proceeded to assault and stab her.
On Wednesday, the Bartholomew County Prosecutor's Office charged Halligan with attempted murder, aggravated battery, criminal confinement, strangulation, auto theft, operating a vehicle intoxicated endangering a person and interference with the reporting of a crime.
A warrant was issued for Halligan's arrest with a $1.5 million bond. He remains in custody at a Columbus hospital, police said.
