Alex Glancy
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 04/04) - The blood-mottled snow in a gas station parking lot remains to tell the tale.

At around 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30, an 18-year-old Yellowknife man was stabbed and critically injured in the parking lot of the Circle K gas bar and convenience store on Range Lake Road. Jamie Kerry Martens, 20, has been arrested in connection with the incident.

The victim, whose name has not been released by police, is currently in critical condition in an Edmonton hospital.

"He's still in very critical condition, and it's still very day-to-day with how he's doing," said RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Steve McVarnock mid-day Sunday.

"He was stabbed in the side of the neck and once in the side of the chest."

McVarnock said the weapon used is believed to be a knife.

Details of the attack are still fuzzy, but McVarnock said the victim and the accused know each other and there is believed to be some history of conflict between them.

However, police "believe it was an impromptu meeting, (and) that the two ran into each other and the incident occurred," said McVarnock.

Police have recovered the accused's vehicle and searched his residence. The attack is currently under investigation by the RCMP "G" Division Major Crime Section and Forensic Identification Unit.

At press time, the victim was undergoing "extensive surgery" in hospital.

Martens will make his first appearance in court today on an aggravated assault charge. Under the Criminal Code of Canada, an aggravated assault is said to occur where the accused "wounds, maims, disfigures or endangers the life of the complainant."

McVarnock said "if the victim fails to pull through, then it would become a murder investigation."