Providence police are investigating a violent incident that left two workers at Grace Church Cemetery injured on Sunday.

Groundskeeper Rufus Moore, who lives on the cemetery grounds with his roommate, said a group of individuals approached the pair. “Two individuals jumped the fence and two pulled up in a vehicle,” Moore reported.

The attackers allegedly asked about a woman, questioning Moore’s roommate, who does not speak English. “They were asking about a female and two of them were asking my roommate and he don’t speak English,” Moore said.

When Moore told the group he was not the person they were looking for, one of the assailants struck him in the face with a box cutter, leaving a slash wound to his chin. “Then one of them hit me in the face with a box cutter,” he recounted. He added that three other people surrounded him as he tried to defend himself.

Moore’s roommate was also struck in the face with a box cutter before the attackers fled the scene.

Both men were taken to Rhode Island Hospital for treatment and were released later Sunday night.

Community impact

The attack follows a recent stabbing of a mother and her young daughter on Broad Street, which police described as a random act. Moore said the cemetery incident has left staff on edge, noting, “We don’t sit outside at all besides work and that’s it, and it got to the point where my coworkers come to work and everyone looking over the shoulder like we don’t know if we are going to be attacked next or anything like that.”

Police have asked anyone with information to contact the Providence Police Department.

Original reporting: NBC 10 WJAR (Sinclair) – local — read the source article.