Police offer few details on arrest in Marine’s killing

DeKalb police have made an arrest in the weekend stabbing of a Tucker bar patron but won’t say whether it’s the female suspect alleged to have killed a former Marine.

Iraq War veteran Adam Pearce was stabbed several times by the still-unidentified woman during a fracas that broke out early Sunday morning at the Last Great Watering Hole.

Authorities are still pursuing a second suspect, according to DeKalb Police spokeswoman Bettina Durant.

The incident report, filed by a DeKalb police officer who was at the cocktail lounge when the fight broke out, contradicts previous witness accounts regarding Pearce’s actions during the brawl.

“Adam Pearce was winging and kicking at him while the black male was attempting to flee,” Officer B.J. Cox said in the report. A DeKalb Police spokeswoman said she did not know why Cox was at the bar. “Adam Pearce then knocked the subject on the ground with the help of several other subjects,” said Cox, who said he was “knocked clear” when he tried to separate the brawlers.

“As I attempted to break up the fight the second time I heard someone state that ‘she stabbed him’,” the officer said.

The woman then ran from the parking lot to Hugh Howell Road, where she jumped into a car and left. The man who was fighting with Pearce also fled the scene as Cox pursued the female suspect, the report said.

Soon after, “I was approached by a female stating that she picked up the black female that was involved in the incident,” Cox said. “But when we got back to her vehicle the suspect left on foot toward Lawrenceville Highway.”

Pearce’s mother, Pam Hayes, said witnesses told her the dispute began when a patron at the bar insulted the girlfriend of her son’s roommate.

“Some man made a derogatory comment about her tattoos, and [Pearce’s roommate] demanded he apologize,” Hayes said. “He refused and that’s when a fight broke out.”

The roommate, 32-year-old Dewayne Williams, was also stabbed during the fight but was treated and released from a local hospital.

Pearce’s funeral was held Wednesday in Snellville.