Man stabbed in fight outside Libertyville bar

One man shouted, “You don’t think I’m a tough guy? I’ll show you I’m a tough guy!”

Minutes later, a blood-soaked Grayslake man, 33, lay on the street with multiple stab wounds just outside of the Island Tap at 112 E. Cook St., one block away from the Libertyville Police Department.

Libertyville police arrested Ryan M. Mikulski, 28, of the 12000 block of 254th Avenue in Trevor, Wis. Authorities charged him with three counts of aggravated battery, one with a deadly weapon.

“The whole thing was done and over in like a minute,” a witness told the Daily Herald.

The Libertyville resident, who asked not to be identified, said he saw two sets of men shouting threats at each other outside the tavern.

“One of the men shouted ‘You don’t think I’m a tough guy? I’ll show you I’m a tough guy!’” I went into the restroom and when I came out, the man was laying on the street covered in blood.”

The witness reported seeing men exchange punches and one man hit another in the head with a beer bottle.

“It was surreal,” the witness said. “The cops showed up in seconds, the paramedics in a few minutes. I heard one man say to the cops, ‘That guy threw a beer on me!’ How often do you see that ever? Let alone in Libertyville?”

The Grayslake victim was taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. A spokeswoman for the medical center did not have an update on the man’s condition.

Police said that Mikulski will be held at the Lake County jail in Waukegan to await a bond hearing.

Libertyville police were assisted by police from Vernon Hills and the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group.