50-year-old man stabs teens who wanted to fight niece in brawl he started, Ga. prosecutors say

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — A Coweta County man is heading to prison after being convicted of stabbing several teenagers in a fight prosecutors say he started.

A family member called Christopher Kendall Rush, 50, in July 2020 to say there was about to be a fight between an 18-year-old girl and Rush’s niece, according to prosecutors.

They say as soon as Rush arrived, he started telling at a group of teens saying he wanted to fight. Video from the incident shows Rush screaming in a 16-year-old girl’s face and then throwing a punch at an 18-year-old boy.

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Prosecutors say the punch started a brawl between Rush, the teenage victims and other family members.

At some point during the fight, Rush pulled out a knife and stabbed or cut three victims, two of whom are sisters. A 19-year-old girl suffered significant blood loss from a deep cut across her chest. An 18-year-old girl still suffers from nerve damage from her injuries nearly three years after the fight.

Rush claimed someone else pulled out the knife and he grabbed it during the fight to defend himself.

The jury rejected his claims and found him guilty of three counts of aggravated assault, three counts of aggravated battery and six counts of possession of a knife during the commission of a felony.

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“It is should be without question that a 50-year-old man should be a source of calm when teenagers are behaving badly. Rather than stop a fight between teenagers from occurring, this Defendant joined the fray, threw a punch, then escalated the fight to a potentially deadly encounter by producing a knife. He went further still by using that knife to injure three of the teenagers involved. It is appropriate that he has been held accountable for his actions,” said Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Herb Cranford.

Rush was sentenced to 12 years in prison followed by 13 years of probation.

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