On a picture-perfect beach day, the 156-space parking lot at South Beach Park is usually jammed. Drivers yelling at others as they circle the lot, and pedestrians yelling at drivers as they dodge cars, are not uncommon.

But was that what escalated into a late-afternoon confrontation that produced a call to 911 Sunday? Is that what ended with ambulances taking one man to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce with a laceration to the abdomen, and another man to Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital with a possible concussion?

Police were still trying to sort that out Monday.

Was this a road rage incident or something else? If so, did it begin in the park or start elsewhere? Was it driver vs driver, or driver vs pedestrian? Who was stabbed?  What kind of knife caused the laceration? How was the man with the possible concussion injured?

Both men, whose names and ages were not given, were released from the hospitals as of Monday, said Officer Kelsea Callahan, a spokesperson for the Vero Beach Police Department.

Now, detectives are searching for the motive behind the confrontation.

Police initially questioned one of the men as a possible suspect. But, with conflicting stories from witnesses and those involved about what led to the stabbing, the investigation continues.
So far, no arrests have been made in this rare and violent attack at one of Vero’s beaches.