Police continued their search for his attackers, saying in a press release Friday they are looking for two Asian men and a woman who fled the scene in a Toyota Camry moments after Stone was stabbed during a 12:45 a.m. fight in the intersection at 21st and K streets. Doctors upgraded Stone's condition from serious to fair on Friday after surgery on three stab wounds. Stone, 23, made international headlines two months ago when he and Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler, boyhood friends from Sacramento, tackled and subdued a would-be terrorist on a Paris-bound train. The man was armed with an AK-47, a Luger pistol and a box cutter. Stone suffered cuts to the neck and a deep wound on a thumb in that incident. Thursday morning's stabbing happened just minutes after Stone had been cheered and feted by a crowd of well-wishers at the Badlands nightclub, Ron Scharffer, Badlands promotions and media director, told The Sacramento Bee. The alleged assailants were not in the club that night, Scharffer said.
A promoter at the club introduced Spencer to the club DJ, who also is in the military. "They pulled him up onstage and introduced him to the crowd, and the crowd was cheering," Scharffer said. "After he got on stage, everybody wanted to talk to him. The whole club was cheering." "According to staff, he had a couple of drinks with friends -- nothing too much," Scharffer added. At that point his group left the club, the doorman saw him leave. Nothing transpired within the club." What happened outside on the block remains uncertain. In a statement issued Friday afternoon, police said at some point "a confrontation with a second group of subjects occurred. That confrontation escalated into a physical fight and the stabbing of Airman Stone." Stone suffered three stab wounds in the melee, which was captured in blurry images by a video camera from a nearby liquor store. He underwent successful surgery Thursday. Medical center officials declined to disclose the nature of the surgery.
Police were quick to say the fight was not connected to Stone's heroics in France. "This incident is not related to terrorism in any way, and we know it's not related to what occurred in France months ago," Sacramento Deputy Police Chief Ken Bernard told reporters on Thursday. Police released a video Friday that shows two men and a woman getting into a car and fleeing the area where Stone was stabbed. The car is believed to be a dark-colored 2009 to 2012 Toyota Camry. Police described the men as Asian adults wearing white shirts and blue jeans. Police have declined to provide details of their investigation, but said in a Friday press statement that detectives are interviewing witnesses to "understand the chain of events that led to the stabbing."
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