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NATCHEZ — A man from Baton Rouge said he was “jumped on” by a group of women and children Saturday at a Natchez apartment complex and stabbed 10 times. Natchez Police Department is investigating the incident.

Joseph Tucker, 52, said he was in Natchez visiting his mother who is on dialysis when he was assaulted by what seemed like a group of six to eight people, including an even mixture of 13- and 14-year-old boys and adult women.

“About eight people jumped on me from behind,” he said. “I was stabbed 10 times and had to be airlifted to Jackson.”

He has since received stitches and has been released from the hospital after being checked for internal injuries.

Natchez Police Chief Joseph Daughtry said the altercation which took place Saturday night at Cedar Hurst Apartments remains under investigation.

“At this point, we’re not sure who started it,” Daughtry said Monday. “It seems that the children were making a TikTok video that became an altercation between an adult and juveniles. He received multiple lacerations. We are waiting for (Tucker) to come in after being treated to hear his side of the story. It’s an ongoing investigation.”

Daughtry said an investigator took Tucker’s statement before he left for the hospital but Tucker’s injuries had to be treated first before he could finish the report.

Tucker said he was returning to his mother’s apartment from a trip to McDonald’s when he first heard the kids talking with foul language and asked if were they talking to him.

“I said, ‘Hey, you don’t know me,’” he said. “I told them, ‘I’m old enough to be your dad,’ and not to disrespect me.”

As things escalated two cursing between the children and Tucker, he said at least two women came to intervene on the children’s behalf and that he’d started to walk away when they allegedly attacked Tucker from behind and hit him on the head and stabbed him in his leg and back. Tucker said he called 911 when he realized he was bleeding.
“I had a gun on me,” Tucker said. “The only reason I didn’t shoot them was because it was women and children.”