Arrest made in stabbing after Falcons game, police said it was over food

Police have arrested a Villa Rica man in connection with Sunday’s stabbing outside the Georgia Dome.

And contrary to previous reports, investigators said the altercation had nothing to do with the Falcons’ loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game. But rather, that it was over food.

At 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, Mr. James Lewis McCoy, 46, was arrested by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority Police Department, the Georgia Dome spokesman Mr. Jason Kirksey said.

Police have not released the charges against him.

The incident happened about 6:40 p.m. when a 35-year-old man was slashed in the throat during an altercation in the Silver Parking Lot outside the Georgia Dome after Sunday’s NFC Championship Game between the 49’ers and Falcons, officials said.

“Investigators believe at this time that the disagreement started over food at a tailgate,” Mr. Kirksey said in a statement.

Neither Mr. McCoy nor the unidentified victim attended the game, Mr. Kirksey said.

The 35-year-old man remained at Grady Memorial Hospital in stable condition, police said.

The Georgia World Congress Center police announced Monday that they would like to speak with two women spotted in the area but would not say what role, if any, they may have played in the fracas, according to media reports.

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