ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Action News Jax is hearing from the lead pastor of Trinity Church for the first time since he was stabbed at a restaurant just minutes from downtown.
“It was the weirdest day of my life,” says Father Matt Marino, who we first told you last month was stabbed while eating breakfast with a friend at Juniper Market.
Marino says he was sitting at a table when he saw a woman walk up to the restaurant, turn to him, and say she had “problems.”
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“When you tell a pastor you have problems the first thing you do is say ‘oh, tell me your story,’” says Marino, “I was in the middle of saying it when she leaned forward, put a knife in my chest and pulled it out.”
St. Augustine police say Arieana Gibbs stabbed Marino, apparently for no reason, shortly after trying to stab an employee of the McDonald’s on North Ponce De Leon Boulevard. Morino says after she stabbed him, she had a frightening look in her eye and tried stabbing him again.
“She was trying to keep coming, she wanted to finish the deal. And I don’t know why, I don’t know who she was, or is,” Marino says.
Gibbs’ arrest report says Marino’s friend was able to get her away from him, then she ran off. Around that time, Marino says he got on the ground and remembers thinking he might not live. He says God spoke with him at that moment and asked what he wanted.
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“I said, ‘Okay, well, what I want is to walk my daughter down the aisle and hold grandkids.’ And I felt like the Lord said, ‘okay,’ and by that point, first responders got there really fast,” says Marino.
Marino has since been released from the hospital, where he spent days recovering from the stabbing. He doesn’t call his recovery a miracle but is overwhelmed with gratitude toward the first responders that stepped in to help save his life.
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“The fire chief followed [me] along [to my hospital room] and wouldn’t let me be alone. So, it’s a fantastic city, the entire town essentially watched over me and prayed for me. It was phenomenal,” Marino says.
As for the person responsible for the stabbing, Marino hopes they find healing instead of hurt.
“I don’t know what was happening in her life, I don’t know why, but the response of the body of Christ and the response of Christians is ‘we forgive you,’” says Marino.
Arieana Gibbs’ lawyer turned in a written not guilty plea last week for the three charges she’s facing in the stabbing, including two felony charges. Her next court hearing is set for December 2nd.
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