CENTRALIA — Centralia police responded around 11:15 Thursday night to a report of a stabbing in the area of 12 and Elm streets.

Upon arrival they discovered 18-year-old Trent Gibson, of Centralia, had reportedly been stabbed multiple times in the neck and back. The victim told police he tried to stop a burglary to a home by two white males in a white van and he was stabbed while trying to hold one suspect and call police.

(Credit: SashaGalatchenko)
(Credit: SashaGalatchenko)

The suspect reportedly ran toward the junior high and the van sped away heading east. The suspect on foot was described as a white male approximately 6-feet 2-inches tall, average build, wearing a long dark trench coat with a fur trimmed hood.

EMTs responding to the scene reportedly noticed a man hiding behind GenFed and alerted police, who then pursued the man to the 1000 block of South Maple Street where he was apprehended. Police have identified the suspect as 34-year-old James Krouse, of Taylorville.

Krouse was taken to the Marion County Jail where he remains with bail set at $150,000. He was charged in Marion County Court Friday with Class 3 felony aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

A K-9 unit was called in to search for evidence the suspect may have tossed as he ran.

Gibson was transported to the SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital ER in Centralia for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.