Fired Universal Orlando contractor stabbed coworker with scissors, police say

ORLANDO — A disgruntled Universal Orlando contractor who was fired on New Year's Eve is facing attempted first-degree murder charges after police say he stabbed a former coworker in the neck and head with scissors, Orlando Police said.

Fredrick Torres, 33, was arrested Jan. 1 in the Toon Lagoon area of Islands of Adventure, an arrest affidavit said.

According to investigators, at about 9:30 a.m. Friday, two men, both contractors, were involved in an altercation at the theme park.

A witness told police they saw Torres chasing another man, Glenn Ferguson, who was on his cell phone. When Ferguson stopped, Torres lunged at and hit Ferguson in the head several times, according to the police report.

According to the affidavit, Torres stabbed Ferguson several times with a pair of green scissors and threatened to slit Ferguson's throat. Torres had been fired Dec. 31, but he showed up to work on New Year's Day, police said, where he told his former employer on the phone that if it was true he was fired, he was going to kill Ferguson. "I'm going to slit Glenn's throat," the affidavit quoted him as saying.

Universal security guards pulled Torres off of Ferguson. Torres was arrested and taken to Orlando Police Department headquarters.

Ferguson was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center in critical condition. He sustained multiple stab wounds, including one in his neck that lacerated an artery, and a stab wound that entered his brain, the affidavit said. He underwent emergency surgery, where doctors said he only had a 50 percent chance of surviving the surgery.

A section of Toon Lagoon at Islands of Adventure was closed while the investigation was conducted.

No guests were involved in the fight, a Universal spokesperson said.