MARLBORO, MASS. (WHDH) - A wedding photographer from Massachusetts said he was stabbed while working at a wedding reception in Maine, in an attack that led to a 26-year-old man being arrested.
Donald Halsing, 26, and his fiancée were hired to take photos at a wedding at Kingsley Pines Campground in Raymond, Maine on May 23. During the reception, Halsing said a wedding guest approached him, asked about his business and the cost of weddings, before he was attacked.
“He started asking about our business, asking about our rates,” Halsing said. “I watched him reach in his back pocket, I thought he was going to pull out his phone and he didn’t. He pulled out a pocketknife and stabbed me.”
Deputies with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office responded to the venue on Coughlan Cove Road at approximately 7:03 p.m. When they arrived, they found Halsing had been stabbed in the abdomen, right below his chest, in what appeared to be an “unprovoked attack.” He said the blade cut into his liver.
“All of a sudden, he stabbed me without warning,” Halsing said. “I looked down and I had this hole in my chest, upper part of my abdomen.”
Halsing said the bride was a nurse, and several other wedding guests were first responders. They helped him before he was taken to Maine Medical Center to have surgery.
“I was sitting there and it was honestly very scary,” Halsing said. “I had this little thought in the back of my head of, ‘oh my God, I could die.’ It’s very scary to be in a situation like this. It’s not something that you prepare for as a wedding photographer.”
Halsing has since been released from the hospital and is recovering at home.
Witnesses identified Andrew Manderson, 26, as the suspect. He was quickly located by deputies and arrested at the scene. He is charged with elevated aggravated assault.
Halsing said he is unable to life anything heavy during his recovery, meaning he cannot work doing photography. He said he is also in the middle of planning a wedding of his own in September and now must pay medical bills.
“I’d really like to know why he did it,” Halsing said. “It’s going to be a long road to get there in terms of physical recovery, and then there’s going to be years and years of psychological recovery from this.
A GoFundMe to support Halsing can be found here.
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