By Mark Shaffer
The Ironton Tribune

Joshua Collins, the man accused of stabbing South Point Elementary principal Bill Christian on Oct. 24 was extradited back to Lawrence County and on Friday, he had his first hearing on multiple charges and is being held in jail on a $2 million bond.
Collins was in the Lawrence County Municipal Court of Donald Capper on Friday morning and found out he is facing a charge of first-degree felony attempted murder, second-degree felony felonious assault, first-degree misdemeanor telecommunication harassment and two counts of first-degree misdemeanor menacing by stalking against two different female victims.
He is facing up to 32 years on the attempted murder and felonious assault charges and up to 18 months on the misdemeanor charges.
He plead not guilty to all the charges.
Capper set Collins bond at $2 million dollars and granted temporary protection orders for all three victims, meaning Collins is not have any contact with them.
Collins will have a preliminary hearing in Capper’s court on Tuesday morning.
According to reports, Collins was upset over a custody issue and was creating a scene in the lobby and Christian came out to deescalate the situation. When Christian turned away from the man, Collins stabbed Christian in the neck and upper torso.
Christian fled back into the office behind a locked door, at which point Collins broke the glass out of the window in the door and entered the office. Collins pursued Christian through multiple parts of the office and finally into the cafeteria area. This is where the South Point Police officer confronted Collins and took him into custody.
Christian was treated at the scene by the school nurse and then by the Lawrence County EMS who transported him to a hospital.
Collins suffered cuts to his arms possibly from the glass window that he broke, and had to be transported to a hospital as well.
The South Point schools have been closed since the incident and will reopen on Wednesday.
Christian has been the South Point Elementary School principal since April, prior to that he had been the school’s assistant principal for 12 years. He replaced Chris Mathes as principal after Mathes became the school district’s superintendent.