'Get out or get stabbed.'

The Texas A&M University-Commerce campus is buzzing with speculation concerning the events that led up to the stabbing of a student in New Pride on Jan. 6. While the University Police Department has not been able to release much information in the ongoing investigation, The East Texan was able to get an exclusive interview with Porscha Williams, the student who stabbed her then-boyfriend Jerald Manuel.

Williams explained that the two had been friends for years and had been dating for about two years. She then felt she needed to remove herself from the relationship due to multiple arguments, and Jan. 6 was when the arguing came to a head.

"I was slowly but surely separating myself from him," Williams said. "I walked over [to his room] and he had an attitude. I grabbed all of my stuff and told him that I was going to go ahead and go, and that's when he grabbed my arm."

Williams went on to explain that after she returned to her apartment in New Pride, Manuel came demanding she let him in.

"After about 15 minutes he came back and was knocking on my door," Williams said. "I was on the balcony so I could cool my head, and I called my mother to try to calm down and he was back and all I could hear was [banging on the door] ‘Open the door. You know what, just give me my stuff, I'm tired of dealing with you.'"

After hearing his demands, Williams complied and began to gather his possessions to give back to him in hopes of ending the situation.

"I got a bag and put all of his stuff in there," Williams said. "I unlocked the door and I opened it to hand him his stuff and he grabbed his stuff with one hand and pushed the door open with the other. That's when I was telling him to get out because I didn't want him in here, but he was like ‘No, you're going to listen to me.' I started pushing him before he could get any further into my apartment, but he was just getting more and more aggressive."

Williams went on to explain that as the situation escalated, she felt threatened and attempted to remove Manuel from the apartment, but he responded with more aggression.

"I was like ‘Do you want me to call the police? You're going to get in trouble again, get out get out,' but he would not respond. My words weren't doing anything and I was trying to push him out but that wasn't doing anything and there was a knife sitting [on the table] and I said, ‘Get out or get stabbed. Leave.' He didn't say anything, and he just walked up to me and put the knife to his stomach and looked at me with the coldest look I've ever seen in my life."

It was at this moment when Williams became fearful of the situation and was unsure of what would happen with the tension steadily rising.

"I immediately snatched the knife back with my left hand and started pushing him with my right hand, and then we started tussling," Williams said. "I told him to leave again, and he wasn't going for it and we got into another scuffle and he grabbed my arm again and started bear hugging me and would not let me go, so I just kind of slid down under his grasp and started kicking at him telling him to leave and he stepped back and then he lunged at me again and I just remember grabbing for my right hand and poking him."

While Williams insists that she was doing what she felt necessary to defend herself, A&M-Commerce administrators have dealt punishments to both parties involved. Manuel has been withdrawn from A&M-Commerce and Williams has been suspended.

"Oh his behalf, [Jerald] is in county jail right now in Hunt County, and they're charging him with burglary," Williams said. "They've suspended me until Spring 2013 for defending myself. I'm not understanding [the situation] at all. I don't see what else I could have done; I tried telling him to get out."

Attempts to contact Manuel before he was incarcerated were not returned as of press time.