Woman stabs man during argument near busy Anchorage highway intersection

A woman was arrested for stabbing a man near one of Anchorage's busiest intersections Monday afternoon, police said.

Jaylene B. Unok, 22, was taken into custody and charged with first-degree assault on Monday, according to the Anchorage Police Department.

The victim's injuries appeared to be life-threatening, said Renee Oistad, police spokeswoman.

Matt Tunseth, the editor of the Alaska Star newspaper (which is published by the Anchorage Daily News), said he was sitting at the red light at Benson Boulevard and Seward Highway around 2:05 p.m. when an argument broke out between a man and woman sitting close to the road, near the edge of the parking lot of the Midtown Mall, formerly known as the Mall at Sears.

"The woman kind of had words with the man, said a few things angrily," Tunseth said. "Then she started what looked like punching him in the back."

The light turned green. Tunseth began to drive off when he noticed the woman held a knife in her hand.

"I realized she wasn't punching him, she was stabbing him."

He turned around. The woman was walking away from the scene. When Tunseth got back to the man, he was sprawled on the ground on his back, with his feet at the edge of the parking lot and his head toward the roadway.

"I said, 'Are you stabbed?'" Tunseth said. "He said 'Yes I'm stabbed.'"

He was bleeding a lot, Tunseth said. Police were on the scene quickly.

Note: An earlier version of this story quoted police spokeswoman Renee Oistad saying the victim's injuries did not appear life threatening. Oistad later said that assessment had changed and that the wounds were life threatening as of 4 p.m. today.