BCSO: Furniture store stabbing appears to be self-defense

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A woman who stabbed her boyfriend three times in the torso at a used furniture store Tuesday might have acted in self defense, investigators said.

Mary May, 43, stabbed 29-year-old Tyler Buckee three times in the torso around 4 p.m. Tuesday in the Second Time Around Furniture store on Front Beach Road. Deputies were called about 20 minutes later.

Buckee was alert and conscious before paramedics rushed to Bay Medical Center in critical condition. May was also injured during what Bay County Sheriff’s Office Investivator Albert Willis described as a domestic dispute.

“We’re still gathering all the evidence and working the crime scene, but at this point it appears to be a self defense stabbing in response to domestic violence situation,” Willis said.

Willis said the investigation was still in its early stages, but it appeared Buckee had been beating on May and she grabbed a piece of glass and stuck Buckee with it before leaving the store. Deputies found her walking along the road shortly after finding Buckee.

Buckee and May had been staying in a makeshift residence behind the storefront while the owner was away. Investigators believed that’s where the fight started.

It was too early to know what, if any, charges would be filed in the incident, or whom they might be filed against, Willis said.