By Joyce LeeThe Daily Northwestern

A 20-year-old man was stabbed three times Monday evening when he intervened in a fight at Custer Avenue and Brummel Street in south Evanston, Evanston Police Department Deputy Chief Joseph Bellino said.

According to Bellino, witnesses said they saw four teenage girls in a physical fight shortly before 7:20 p.m. at the intersection, which is located about two miles south of Northwestern’s campus.

The victim intervened in the fight and was confronted by a male acquaintance of the girls.

The 18-year-old acquaintance then used an unidentified object to stab the victim, witnesses said.

The acquaintance used a sharp-edged object to cut the victim’s ear, shoulder and groin, Bellino said.

After a friend drove the victim home, a family member took the man to Evanston Hospital for medical attention. The man required treatment for his ear and bandaging for the other injuries.

David Zabinski, who lives in south Evanston, said incidents of this nature are common in the area.

Last April a park in south Evanston was closed for safety concerns after about 200 teenagers, many of them carrying sticks or beer bottles, created a disturbance.

“There are usually large groups of youth gathering, getting into arguments, fights, the police having to come out and respond,” Zabinski said. “(The police are called) maybe seven or eight times a month.”

An investigation is underway, but no arrests have been made, Bellino said. The attacker would face a felony charge of aggravated battery, he said.

Zabinski said he avoids potential confrontations in the neighborhood.

“If it’s happening outside my house, I won’t go outside, and if it’s happening at the park, I won’t go to the park,” said Zabinski. “I don’t get scared, I just don’t go there.”

Reach Joyce Lee at [email protected].