In a very bizarre act of violence, reggae artist Major Mackerel was slashed in the head with a sword by his neighbor. According to reports, the performer, who gained most of his popularity in the 1980s, got in a fight outside of his Brooklyn home. He was cut in the head and hand by the two-foot-long weapon before being transported to a nearby hospital.

The neighbor, Oscar Joseph, confronted Mackerel accusing him of flirting with his wife. " ... He doesn't mess with his wife." Mackerel's girlfriend, Novia Watson, guaranteed. "I don't know why he said that." As the men wrestled for the sword Joseph swung the weapon, cutting Mackerel. "It was a big surprise," said Mackerel. "I was trying not to get cut, not to get stabbed." Joseph was later arrested still holding the bloody sword. The sword-swinger was charged with assault with intent to cause serious injury, plus menacing and criminal possession of a weapon.

Despite the seriousness of the attack, Mackerel initially brushed off the altercation, telling the media, "I got in a little fight and I fell. Just kidding." Of his attacker Mackerel was not so jovial. "How can I feel bad for someone who tried to kill me?" The reggae star also acknowledged that harboring such weapons is common within West Indian cultures. "It's a Jamaican thing," he said.

This isn't the first time a resident has used a knife as a weapon. Last month a Johns Hopkins University student killed a burglar first chopping off his hand with a samurai sword before slicing him across the chest. The suspect died after police arrived.