Police said the violence broke out just after midnight on Fayetteville Street and was not a random attack.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Six people were stabbed early Saturday in downtown Raleigh after a fight on Fayetteville Street escalated into violence, and investigators say a 35-year-old man now faces felony assault charges in a case that sent all six victims to the hospital.
The stabbings happened in one of the city’s most visible nightlife corridors and quickly became a test of how Raleigh explains public safety in its center city. Police said the people involved knew each other, a detail officials and downtown leaders used to describe the episode as isolated. Even so, the attack left multiple people badly hurt, disrupted a busy weekend block and renewed concern from business owners, residents and visitors about patrols, crowd behavior and late-night conditions on Fayetteville Street.
Police said the violence began around 12:18 a.m. Saturday between the 200 and 400 blocks of Fayetteville Street. Investigators said a fight broke out between one man and a group of people, then turned into a stabbing. Kyle Taylor, owner of The Anchor on Fayetteville Street, said he saw the confrontation begin as two groups moved toward each other on the street. “It was two groups walking in opposite directions, and they just got into a verbal argument that escalated,” Taylor said. By the time officers secured the area, six adults had been wounded. Emergency crews took all six to a hospital. Police said the injuries were serious but not life-threatening, and officials later said the victims were expected to recover.
Investigators identified the suspect as Frank Lalich, 35. Police said Lalich was also injured in the fight and remained hospitalized after the attack. Authorities said he was charged with four counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to seriously injure. That count leaves a gap between the number of reported victims and the number of charges announced so far, and police have not publicly explained whether more charges could follow. WRAL reported that police initially said several other people were arrested at the scene, but no details on those possible arrests were released. Raleigh police said the stabbings were not random and involved people who knew each other, but they have not publicly laid out the relationship among everyone involved or identified what started the dispute.
The location gave the case extra weight. Fayetteville Street runs through the heart of downtown Raleigh and is lined with restaurants, bars, offices and event spaces, making it one of the city’s most visible public corridors after dark. The block where the violence unfolded is also a place where city officials and business groups have tried to balance nightlife, tourism and street-level security. In comments aired by ABC11 from a February interview, Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce said the department had already added resources downtown over the past year, including a dedicated hospitality district structure with supervisors and officers assigned to the area every day. Taylor said the street tends to feel calmer when police are easier to spot and argued that more steady foot traffic and fewer vacant storefronts could also improve the environment.
Downtown Raleigh Alliance President and CEO Bill King said in a statement that the organization was deeply concerned by the attack and grateful for the police response. He described the stabbing as an incident between individuals but said the violence was still unsettling for the broader community. The alliance said its ambassador team patrols downtown seven days a week and works with police and other safety partners, including a public safety unit assigned to that part of downtown. Raleigh police declined an interview request from ABC11 about staffing and patrol levels on the street Friday night into Saturday morning and instead pointed reporters to a written statement. In that statement, the department said investigators were still gathering details and asked anyone with information to come forward. No court appearance tied to the announced charges had been publicly detailed in the reporting reviewed here.
The public reaction was split between alarm and resolve. Some people downtown said the scale of the violence made it impossible to ignore, even if police believe it was targeted. Shene’e Howell told ABC11 that any episode large enough to draw public attention deserved scrutiny, while also saying she did not personally feel unsafe downtown. Others were more blunt. WRAL quoted Dyani O’Neal saying nights out in the area were supposed to end with people getting home safely, not with what she called tragedy. Those comments captured the tension city leaders now face: how to reassure people that a six-victim stabbing was unusual without dismissing the fear that follows a highly visible attack in a nightlife district.
The case remained active Monday, with six victims recovering, the suspect still hospitalized and investigators still working to pin down the full sequence of events. The next public milestone is likely to be any additional charging decision or first court action once authorities release more information.
Author note: Last updated April 13, 2026.