University alumnus, student stabbed outside Annapolis bar this weekend

A university alumnus remains in critical but stable condition after he and another university student were stabbed and wounded Saturday at about 2 a.m. in Annapolis, police said.

Daniel Bichner, a 21-year-old student, and Daniel Hawvermale, a 22-year-old alumnus, were involved in a fight near Armadillo's Bar & Grill and Stevens Hardware with four or five other men when one suspect allegedly stabbed both victims. Bichner was stabbed in the abdomen and taken to the hospital by helicopter; Hawvermale was transported by ambulance after he was stabbed in the chest and his lung collapsed, Annapolis Police detective Amy Miguez said.

Miguez said Bichner, of Mount Airy, was treated and released from the hospital Saturday; Hawvermale, of Sandy Spring, remains in the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore in critical but stable condition. She said he should be released today or tomorrow.

Police are now searching for the suspect, who is described as a 6-foot-3 black male last seen wearing a black and blue striped shirt and blue jeans, Miguez said. Although police have not yet determined the weapon used, they believe it was a pocket knife.

"Each of the victims was stabbed only one time," Miguez said. "The wounds weren't superficial at all, but they are not life-threatening injuries."

Miguez confirmed police believe alcohol was involved in the incident, and she said Hawvermale said he had been drinking before the incident. She added police do not believe Bichner and Hawvermale knew the other males involved prior to the incident.

Brendan Fisher, the manager of Armadillo's Bar & Grill, said he is unsure whether Bichner, Hawvermale or any of the suspects were in his bar that night.

"No one here remembers any of them being in here," Fisher said. "They could have been in here, but we don't know anything."

"The police have a good presence here and everything," he said. "They're always downtown late at night because it's always busy here late at night so it was just a freak thing. It's a pretty safe town. It's just a random act that shouldn't have happened. I hope they catch the guy, and I hope the kids are OK."

Both Bichner and Hawvermale were at one time members of this university's wrestling team. Coach Kerry McCoy confirmed yesterday both quit and neither had been affiliated with the team for, "three or four years."

Attempts to reach both Bichner's and Hawvermale's families were unsuccessful.

egan@umdbk.com