Barnville: Police got wrong man

At a hearing, Broderick Barnville said Andre Shaw is not the man who stabbed him outside Wawa in February. After weeks of searching for the man who stabbed University groundskeeper Broderick Barnville at 38th and Spruce streets the morning of February 27, University Police breathed a sigh of relief last Friday, certain they had finally caught the right suspect. But with one glance at Andre Shaw at a hearing yesterday, Barnville brought the investigation, in his words, "back to square one." "That's not him," said Barnville, 31, before taking the witness stand. Shaw, 41, was arrested after a University employee who had witnessed the stabbing saw him walking on College Green. Certain that he was the man who stabbed Barnville, the witness alerted University Police, who took the man into custody and sent him to the city's Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility. As a result of the hearing, Shaw was released from police custody yesterday. University Police refused to comment for this article. Because Barnville was undergoing surgery for much of the past week, yesterday's hearing was the first chance he had to lay eyes on Shaw, a homeless man who police say is a "semi-regular" at the Wawa at 38th and Spruce streets. The altercation between Barnville and his alleged assailant began at the store at about 7 a.m. that day. Barnville was escorting the man out of the store for allegedly attempting to steal a pack of cigarettes when the man put down his cup of coffee and hit him. Barnville said he then hit the man back "two or three times" before the assailant pulled out a pocketknife and stabbed him in the arm, severing a major artery. "It all happened within five minutes.? I didn't see him reach in his pocket [for the knife] or anything," he said after the hearing. "There were profanities flying back and forth." Barnville was adamant that he didn't want "anyone locked up who didn't stab me," and made his feelings clear before any court proceedings began. "I feel bad. I wish we could have done this a little sooner," Barnville said, referring to the hearing. As for whether the man who stabbed him was homeless or mentally ill, as detectives originally believed, Barnville said it was "hard to say." But he said the true assailant did not "dress like a bum" and unlike Shaw -- who fidgeted with his hands and wore a blank expression throughout the proceedings -- he did not seem mentally unstable, Barnville said. Barnville added that he has previously seen Shaw on campus before "going through trash." Appearance-wise, Barnville said his assailant looked "similar" to Shaw, but was an inch or so taller than Shaw, who is 5'9". Barnville, who is a groundskeeper for the University's Division of Facilities Services, has not yet returned to work. Depending on whether he undergoes another operation, he could miss work for another month or so. Due to the nerve damage caused in the stabbing, Barnville said he is unable to use his left thumb and forefinger. He lamented that his doctor said he would "never have 100 percent use" of the fingers, though he has had two surgeries and may undergo a third soon. "I'm going in and out [of operations] like they're doctor's appointments now," he joked.