Stabbing at Decatur Library Causes Evacuation

An altercation at the downtown Decatur Library became a crime scene after one man got stabbed and he along with two others were arrested Monday.

Apparently New York Times bestselling author Justin Cronin, who writes vampire fiction, even remarked that he never discussed a book at a crime scene before, said patron Angela Eyer. Eyer arrived just in time to see crime scene tape across the library doors and police officers standing nearby.

"My main concern was to be sure that there wasn't a manhunt going on in the area," said Eyer.

She said a librarian ran over to tell her that the library was closed but the book discussion for Cronin's book "The Passage," was still happening on the lower level.

"Since they let us in the lower level of the library building to the auditorium where the author talk was being held, I had to assume that it was safe to be in there," she said.

According to a police report, a group of juveniles on the second floor of the library were yelling profanities and causing a disturbance by the computer area just before 5 p.m.

Apparently, when patron Raad Delaimi asked them to quiet down, they came at him. When a library security guard got between the subjects and asked the juveniles to leave, they "advanced on him as well as Delaimi," the report said.

One man, said to be wearing a turquoise baseball hat, slipped past and began hitting Delaimi. When the altercation broke up, the juveniles fled and the man with the turquoise baseball hat, later identified by police Taurus Barber, was seen "walking briskly toward the Decatur MARTA station without a shirt on and bleeding from his left wrist," the report said.

Barber told police that he was involved in the altercation and was "stabbed while sitting at a computer," it said.

Lillian Johnson, one of the witnesses, said she saw the altercation. She told police that a group of men were causing a ruckus and yelling profanities. She said Delaimi and another patron of the library had asked the juveniles to respect the women and children in the library and to keep their voices down, and that's what started the altercation, according to the report. 

The report also said Delaimi stabbed Barber, who came at him, during the incident. Police recovered a small red Swiss Army knife in Delaimi's backpack and the library was evacuated. Delaimi was not charged.

"It was determined that [Delaimi] acted in self defense," said Deputy Chief Keith Lee with City of Decatur Police.

However, Taurus and two juveniles were charged with battery.