Clark County authorities are investigating an attack that left a man hospitalized after he was struck with what appeared to be a homemade spear.

On the evening of Friday, July 16, deputies with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office were summoned to a residence on the 1400 block of Highway 53 North for a report that someone was in and out of consciousness after being hit in the head.

The victim suffered a laceration “across his face, from his left eye into his nose,” according to police reports. He was taken by ambulance to Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock for treatment to his injuries.

A witness told deputies a male suspect emerged from the woods and struck the man in the face with what “looked to be a homemade spear” before fleeing the scene.

The victim had been at that residence talking to a female at the time of the attack; neither lived at the residence where the incident happened.

The female, who lives two houses down with the suspect, later told police that both men had “ongoing problems” with each other.

Police were unable to find the suspect, identified as 33-year-old Stephen Hawk Fries. A search of his residence, as well as a home between Fries’ and where the incident happened, was unfruitful.