A man from Mount Laurel is now at home recovering after he was brutally attacked earlier this year. He was stabbed in a bar in Collingswood in what police say was an unprovoked attack. Now, he’s paralyzed from the chest down but is determined to walk again. NBC10’s Siobhan McGirl reports that his friends are now trying to help him.
Support is pouring in for a South Jersey man who was attacked while hanging out with friends at a bar earlier this year.
The attack happened at the Raccoon Taproom, a popular brewery located along Powell Lane in Collingswood, on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, around 9 p.m.
It was supposed to be a fun night out for 30-year-old Dan Walker, but it ended with him stabbed and left paralyzed.
According to police, on the night of the incident, officers had responded to the bar after receiving a call for a disorderly person. When first responders arrived on the scene, they found that an individual -- now identified as 27-year-old Tahaa Elmogahzy -- had stabbed Walker in an unprovoked attack before the officers arrived and had fled on foot.
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Officials said a follow-up investigation revealed Elmogahzy as a suspect in this case, and he was later arrested.
After the incident, Walker was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. He had suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down.
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Walker's good friend Marcus Lotierzo told NBC10 that after surgery, a hospital stay, and time in a rehab facility, Walker has regained some feeling.
“If Dan is so driven to walk again, then who are we to tell him that he can’t, and if cost is the inhibitor, we want to get that out of the way, and that is the goal," said Lotierzo.
Lotierzo, along with others close to Walker, are now working to raise money in support, teaming up with Pennsylvania-based medical fundraising nonprofit Help Hope Live.
“A spinal cord injury is one of the most expensive medical crises that you could ever experience. So even though insurance does help often with some of those costs, there are so many out-of-pocket expenses," said Emily Progin of Help Hope Live.
The nonprofit helps people fundraise for what insurance doesn't cover, and in just days, Walker's campaign has raised thousands of dollars.
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