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Man nearly butchered alive in 'horrific' Thanksgiving Day stabbing, Rockledge police say

ROCKLEDGE, Fla. — A man who was nearly butchered alive was able to stumble out of a Rockledge home to ask for help from his neighbors Thursday morning, according to police.

Witnesses said the man stumbled out of a home on Carolina Avenue onto a neighbor’s driveway to ask for help after being nearly hacked or slashed to death.

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Rockledge police said the man suffered life-threatening wounds in what appears to be a domestic incident on Thanksgiving Day.

Photos of the scene show the man with injuries too graphic to be detailed.

“It's horrific that one human being can do this to another," said Lt. Donna Seyferth.

Seyferth said the scene was one of the worst she’d ever witnessed.

“It's one of the most horrific that I have seen,” she said.

Even worse, neighbors said, is that children were playing outside around the neighborhood when the incident occurred Thursday morning.

“My kids came up and said there's a naked man laying out there bleeding,” said eyewitness Jonathan Cannon.

Cannon said considering the extent of the man’s injuries, it was amazing that he was able to speak and ask for help at all.

“He's like, ‘Man, I'm fixin’ to die. I'm fixin’ to die.’ I'm like, ‘No, you're not going to die. You're OK. Everything’s OK,’” Cannon said.

Police said the stabbing is believed to be a domestic incident. A man and the victim’s wife were being questioned by police after she -- and possibly he -- fled directly to the Cocoa Police Department parking lot after the incident.

It was there where children who may live in the victim's home were seen next to the wife's blue SUV.

“What exactly (the children) saw I don't know yet. And we'll be interviewing them, but we try to be as careful as possible. This is -- it's horrific and you add the children on top of it and that's hard for them to process,” Seyferth said.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned to Eyewitness News at 5 p.m. for updates.