Man Charged with Attempted Murder in Alleged Spring City Attack

A West Chester man is now facing attempted murder charges after allegedly beating a man over food stamps in Spring City Borough on Dec. 23, according to the Spring City Police Department.

Marshall Thomas, of East Marshall Street in West Chester, had attempted murder charges added to aggravated and simple assault, possession of instruments of crime, reckless endangerment of another person and terroristic threat charges over alleged incident, which occurred at a New Street apartment complex.

Police responded to the apartment at 7:40 p.m. for the report of a possible robbery when a man was spotted allegedly running from the building, throwing a flashlight into a retaining wall on the property, according to police.

Thomas and a white male were detained after they refused to offer information regarding the reported incident; the white male then allegedly reported that Thomas confronted the victim about an Access card that the victim loaned him, which was canceled.

Thomas believed the victim owed him money because he couldn’t use the card, police said.  Thomas then began hitting the victim with a flashlight when he told Thomas that he wouldn’t pay him more money, police said.

The officer entered the apartment complex and found a large amount of blood on the floor and found the victim, Parrish, with a large gash on his head. Parrish was taken to Phoenixville Hospital and received 6 staples to close the wound in his head, police said.

An officer reported that he heard Thomas laugh and say “I was trying to kill that [expletive]” to the white male, who also reported that Thomas told him to get a gun from under his driver’s seat while he was allegedly attacking the victim, police said.

The victim then told police that Thomas threw his keys to the white male, saying to get his gun from his car because he was going to shoot the victim in the knees, police said.