Wife, mother-in-law stabbed, man in Wake County facing charges: 'I think he snapped'

ByDeJuan Hoggard

Monday, April 28, 2025

NC Man charged after allegedly stabbing 2 women, injuring child

A man was arrested Sunday morning after allegedly stabbing two women and injuring a child, according to the Wake County Sheriff's Office. The child was not stabbed.

KNIGHTDALE, N.C. (WTVD) -- A man was arrested Sunday morning after allegedly stabbing two women and injuring a child, according to the Wake County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies responded just after 2 a.m. to the 1100 block of Rutledge Landing Drive near Knightdale. Upon arrival, they found two women with stab wounds. Both were taken to a hospital; one has life-threatening injuries and the other has non-life-threatening injuries.

A child was also assaulted during the incident but was not stabbed, authorities said. They were taken to a hospital as a precaution.

Investigators say one of the women is the suspect's wife, the other is his mother-in-law, and the child is a stepdaughter.

The suspect, Steve Tant, 42, returned to the scene and crashed into a Knightdale police car. He was arrested and taken to Wake County Detention Center.

He was charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury; assault on a child under 12; and assault with a deadly weapon on a government official.

According to neighbors, Tant and his family moved into the home on Rutledge Landing Drive about a week or so before the stabbings took place.

"It was my first time ever talking to him, ever meeting him, and he was stressed out," said one woman who asked not to be identified. "I greeted him. He was outside with his family. He had just got back from Durham. And I asked him how he was doing. And he just started opening up to me."

She said he had expressed his frustration with his belief that he had been scammed prior to moving into the home and was told by the landlord that the family had seven days to vacate the property. She also said he asked her for resources to help his family out and was able to give him $40 for gas, with the help of her pastor.

"I think he snapped. I think he was under a lot of pressure. He didn't know where to get resources from," she added. "He spent all his money getting in his house. I think he just knew that it was too much for him."

Monday, Wake County District Court Judge Rashad Hauter denied setting a bond amount for Tant, given the seriousness of the allegations and prior criminal convictions dating back to 2014.

In court, the prosecuting attorney read Tant's convictions aloud, including a sexual battery and simple assault conviction from December 2024 that Tant is seeking to appeal.

"The state believes that is entirely appropriate to hold him under no bond," the attorney petitioned.

"I'm leaving the release conditions at no bond. So you will not be able to post a bond. You are also to not allowed to have any contact direct or indirect with any of the alleged victims," replied Judge Hauter.

"Our neighborhood is pretty quiet. Our neighborhood is pretty friendly," said resident Dominique Lynn. "To hear that happening was kind of disheartening and kind of scary. Because that's not the type of neighborhood we live in."