Two teens stabbed in weekend knife fight in Poplar Bluff

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Two Poplar Bluff teens are recovering from stab wounds this week following a Saturday night altercation.

Both victims, Joshua L. Magill, 17, and Preston D. Russell, 19, were treated and released early Sunday morning from Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center.

Four people face charges in the incident, which began around 11 p.m. at the intersection of Cedar and Broadway streets.

Justin Lee Livingston, 26, also of Poplar Bluff, was booked Saturday at the Butler County Jail on suspicion of armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of second-degree assault. Joshua Michael Collins, 17, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of third-degree assault and later released on bond. Kelly Glen Vinson, 22, was sent a summons for third-degree assault. A juvenile was also arrested Saturday on suspicion of third-degree assault and later released to the custody of family.

A verbal argument escalated to violence after one of the approximately 10 people involved confronted Livingston about an incident earlier in the evening at Bluff Billiards, according to police.

Members of the group accused an acquaintance of Livingston's, not listed in police reports as present at the altercation, of exposing himself in front of a 2-year-old girl outside the business.

Witness accounts differ on how and when the argument turned violent. Police were called at just after 11 p.m. to a fight in progress in the 300 block of Cedar Street.

Upon arrival they found Magill bleeding from two stab wounds to his left arm, a wound to the left side of his abdomen and one in the upper thigh of his left leg. He was taken by ambulance to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center, where he received stitches and was released several hours later, according to his family.

Officers later recovered a pocketknife allegedly belonging to Livingston.

Russell was treated for a stab wound to the left side of his abdomen and a wound to the inner portion of his upper right leg.