Police: Homeless Man Uses Knife To Threaten Group Of Children At A Bunnell Park

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Bunnell, FL - A homeless man is now facing multiple charges of child abuse after police say he threatened a group of children with a knife and choked one of the children during a confrontation at a Bunnell park. 23-year-old Matthew Edward Marro was at Edward Johnson Park on Court Street in Bunnell on Sunday evening when he got into an argument with a woman and pushed her. As the two were arguing, a group of children came over to intervene. Police say Marro pushed one of the boys against a bench and began to choke him. Marro allegedly called the children racial slurs, approached the children with a pocket knife and threatened to "kill all of them and their families." As Marro was choking one of the children, the other children began hitting Marro with sticks. At one point, Marro gave the knife to the woman he had been arguing with earlier. She gave it to one of the children and told him to hide it. The boy ran off and hid the knife in a pile of tree debris. According to arrest reports, Marro then chased after the boy and pushed him to the ground. While none of the children were injured as a result of the confrontation, the parents of the children said they do wish to press charges against Marro. Marro faces five counts of child abuse and five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Marro's mugshot courtesy of Flagler County Jail.