Springville bar stabbing suspect turns himself in to deputies

PORTERVILLE, Calif. (KFSN) -- John Hanford, the suspect in the Antlers Bar stabbing, has turned himself in to deputies.

According to the Tulare County Sheriff's Office, he turned himself in around 8 p.m. Thursday night. He was booked at the South County Detention Facility with charges of attempted homicide.

Hanford's bail is set at $1 million.

Deputies from the Porterville substation found the victim in the parking lot of Antlers Bar, adjacent to Lake Success.

With a stab wound to his stomach, first responders decided to fly him via helicopter to Kaweah Delta Medical Center, where he had surgery.

"This could have been easily a homicide," says Choad Rhyman, a Tulare County Sheriff's Lt.

Rhyman says the stabbing victim is expected to survive.

There was a fight outside, and then Rhyman says Hanford slashed the victim, probably with a knife, and likely more than once.

It's still unclear what the fight was about, although sheriff's officials believe the two men knew each other.

Hanford has several felonies convictions, with the most recent one in 2007.