UPDATED: Man Arrested After Stabbing Vandal

(Updated at 9:10 p.m.) A 27-year-old Arlington man has been arrested after police say he stabbed a man who was vandalizing houses near Clarendon.

The incident happened just before 2:00 a.m. this morning, June 1, on the 800 block of N. Irving Street. According to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck, three subjects were vandalizing houses — breaking items and throwing porch chairs and plants into the street — when Mauricio Canales, 27, came outside to confront them.

At some point Canales — who had been drinking, according to investigators — went back into the house and retrieved a large kitchen knife.

Canales told police that one of the subjects took a swing at him. Then, police say, he pulled out the knife and stabbed the subject just below the jawline. The subject fled the scene and eventually staggered over to Fire Station No. 2 in Bluemont with a five inch stab wound to his jaw area, along with lacerations to his forearm and hand. The subject was brought to a local hospital and his injuries are considered non-life-threatening, Sternbeck said.

Police arriving on scene at Irving Street found the bloody knife and the vandalized chairs in the street. Canales was located at his home, wearing a white shirt with blood on it, Sternbeck said. He was arrested, charged with malicious wounding, and is currently being held without bond.

So far, no charges have been filed against the three alleged vandals.