MEMPHIS Tenn. — A lawn care business owner was stabbed outside his Frayser home Thursday morning, allegedly by one of his own employees.
Harold McGhee is fighting for his life in the ICU at Regional Medical Center.
The 64-year-old runs a lawn service and likes to hire men down on their luck, usually convicted felons who can’t get a job because of their criminal record.
Jarvis Foster is one of them. He’s been with McGhee for eight years.
“Give us a chance, second chance man,” Foster says, “He a good guy, man.”
McGhee’s wife Robbie says he hired a new worker two weeks ago. She doesn’t know if he’s a felon but he definitely needed help.
“He said ‘I got a wife and I don’t have a job’ and he gave him a job not even knowing him,” she says.
Everything was fine until Thursday morning when the new hire allegedly tried to rob McGhee outside his home on Hallbrook.
“He was stabbed with garden shears,” Robbie McGhee says, “He’s got a lot of deep wounds. He bled out a lot.”
She says the suspect didn’t get anything and fled. She says he took advantage of her husband.
“When you’re given a hand up take the hand and get up. Don’t take the hand and try to pull somebody else down,” she says.
“He tried to help the guy provide for his family and this is the thanks he get,” Foster says.
As bad as this was, Robbie McGhee doesn’t think her husband will lose his faith in people.
“When it’s in your heart, it’s in your heart … I don’t think that’s going to change. I hope he’s a little more cautious,” she says.