SANFORD (AP) – A Sanford man was charged with murder following a stabbing outside a convenience store, police said.

Joshua Stewart, 20, was found walking along Route 109 a short time after police were notified of the stabbing at 7:53 p.m. Tuesday outside Airport Variety Store, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Police said Stewart was one of half a dozen young men who were in the store parking lot when an argument ensued.

The victim, Allen Bennison, 21, of Sanford, stumbled into the store and asked clerk Crystal Son to call police. He collapsed on the floor while Son called 911.

“He was saying, ‘I’m fading, I’m fading,”‘ Son said.

Stewart was questioned at the Sanford Police Station and charged with murder around 4 a.m. Wednesday, McCausland said.

Bennison died at Goodall Hospital and his body was transported to Augusta, where an autopsy was to be conducted by the state medical examiner.

Stewart made his first court appearance in York County Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon.

He did not enter a plea and no bail was set. He is being held at the York County Jail.

AP-ES-01-24-07 1734EST

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