Landlord stabbed in bout over drug-dealing

WINONA, Minn. – Police arrived at an East Side house and found a man, stabbed and bloodied, being loaded into an ambulance. As police pieced together what happened, Mohammed Nasimul Haque, 53, the owner of the house, had been stabbed by a tenant after a confrontation over drugs. Haque had taken at least one stab wound to the left side of his chest. This was Saturday about 7:50 p.m. About 7-1/2 hours later, police arrested Mason Sean Maloney, 23, at a flop-house a couple blocks away. Maloney was booked for assault and also possession of controlled substances. In his room at Haque’s place, a police had found:

> 14 green pills, which tested as Clonazepham, a moderately addictive benzodiazepine tranquilizer.

>10 blue pills, which tested as methamphetamine, a highly addictive prescription drug with aphrodisiac and euphorant effects.

Witnesses at Haque’s house said Haque had confronted Maloney about selling drugs from the house. A scuffle ensued. The witness told officers they separated the men but not before Maloney grabbed “something sharp” and poked Haque twice. They quoted Maloney: “I stabbed you.” He was holding a four-inch pocketknife, they said. Although bleeding profusely, Haque went to a bedroom and came out with a loaded shotgun and aimed at Maloney but didn’t fire. Maloney left. He was arrested without resistance about 2:50 a.m. in the 400 block of Mankato.