An Antioch woman has been charged with attempted homicide after police say she stabbed a woman seven times during a dispute last week outside Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin.
The altercation occurred in a parking lot near the hospital’s emergency room sometime before 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 28, according to an affidavit signed by Inv. Charles Cook with the Gallatin Police Department.
Authorities say the incident stemmed from an allegation that the boyfriend of Tara Cates, 38, had been beaten up by a person related to Keyomia Link, 33 of Gallatin. However, the boyfriend later told police his injures were the result of a fall and not from another individual.
The two women, who knew each other prior to the stabbing, had spoken by phone earlier in the evening and arranged to meet outside the hospital where Cates’ boyfriend was being treated.
According to Cook, a review of hospital security footage showed Cates exit her vehicle after being approached by Link and her fiancé. The two women then appeared to become involved in an altercation before being separated by a bystander.
“(Link) advised me that Tara came out of the vehicle with a knife and rushed her, but she didn’t realize she had been stabbed until shortly after she left the scene,” Cook wrote in the affidavit. “(She) then returned to the ER to be treated for seven puncture wounds and a punctured lung due to one of the punctures.”
According to police, Link was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville with injuries to her torso, leg and shoulder areas.
When questioned about what happened, Cook said Cates initially claimed she had been pulled out of her vehicle by Link and her fiancé. She later admitted to getting out of the vehicle on her own with the knife but added she “didn’t realize she had stabbed (Link) so many times.”
Cates was arrested and booked into the Sumner County Jail where she was still being held on a $750,000 bond as of Wednesday afternoon. A criminal hearing in General Sessions Court is scheduled for April 7.
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