RALEIGH -- State inspectors have shut down a Holly Springs group home for adults with mental illness after a resident was stabbed over the weekend with a screwdriver nearly two dozen times.
In an order issued Monday, the state Division of Health Service Regulation suspended the home's license to operate after inspectors found "an imminent danger to the health, safety and welfare of the clients and that emergency action is required to protect the clients."
Jeff Horton, the division's director, said Monday the state is working with Wake County mental health officials to place the home's residents in other facilities.
Police said Stephan Abreu, 48, was repeatedly stabbed Saturday at the single-family house in the Windcrest subdivision, which was licensed for up to six residents with severe and persistent mental illness. Abreu has been hospitalized with injuries not considered life-threatening, according to Holly Springs police.
Another resident of the house, Gregory Henry McClain, 22, was charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. He is in the Wake County jail with bail set at $1.5 million.
Court records show McClain is accused of trying to suffocate Abreu, then stabbing him 22 times. McClain has a long criminal record that includes past convictions for first-degree arson and assault with a deadly weapon.
"Unfortunately, I think the home took a client they were not equipped to take care of," Horton said.
The house is owned by Obinna Achumba of Raleigh, who could not immediately be reached for comment.
Holly Springs Police Chief John Herring said Monday his office filed at least two written complaints with the state contending that supervision and management at the group home were inadequate.
Herring said his officers received 17 calls for service involving the group home since it opened in November.
The chief said the town will work to make sure the home's license is revoked permanently.
"The residents of the home were not being properly supervised," Herring said. "We would have liked to have seen that [suspension] happen sooner because, as we told the state, we were concerned that someone was going to get hurt."
Horton said that his agency received the first complaint Jan. 14 and that inspectors visited the following week, which he characterized as a "speedy" response. That inspection, on Jan. 21, turned up a number of violations, and administrative action against the facility was pending when the stabbing occurred.
"We had not finished that report when this incident occurred," Horton said. "Can we prevent all unfortunate incidences? No, we can't. But we try to be as responsive as we can and, when we deem necessary, take action to protect the health and safety of the folks."
