Alex Lovell nearly lost his fingers, his life and he appears to have lost the woman he loved.
Otherwise, the Camas man is feeling pretty good.
“I was just so proud for beating this samurai wannabe crazy lady with hate in her heart,” Lovell, 29, told The Oregonian/OregonLive in a Facebook message exchange Wednesday. “I’ve been preparing my whole life for something like this.”
The woman? Emily Javier, 30, his girlfriend of two years. Javier faces attempted murder charges after she told police and a 911 dispatcher she attacked and repeatedly slashed Lovell with a samurai sword during the wee hours of March 3.
‘You used a sword?’ 911 call captures grisly, Tinder-inspired samurai-saber attack
The incident has drawn national and international headlines. It’s also landed Lovell in the hospital, where he remains recovering from multiple wounds and lacerations.
In an interview with police after the attack, Javier claimed she found a Tinder dating app on Lovell’s phone and also fumed over his penchant for playing too many video games.
Lovell admits he may spend a bit too much time in front of a computer screen. But he insists he never cheated.
“I barely had time to hang out with my girlfriend, let alone another girl,” he said.
In recent months, Lovell said he had spent 12 to 13 hours a day playing and training for “PlayerUnknown’s Battleground,” a computer game where players parachute onto an island, gather weapons and blow each other to bits.
The long hours also required him to spend time doing exercises for his hands, wrists and shoulders and also practicing mouse moves and techniques to maximize performance.
“I wasn’t a sweaty nerd, more of an Ethlete,” Lovell said, describing a person who has an intensive online gaming regimen.
Javier told police she hatched the assault on Lovell after she found evidence he had been unfaithful.
First, there was the Tinder dating app, she said. Then she, she said, saw sexually suggestive scratches on his back. Finally, Javier found red hair in the couple’s shower drain, according to the police report.
Her hair, on the other hand, is dyed green.
Lovell said he had Tinder on his phone when he first met Javier but later deleted the dating app.
As for her other allegations? “Basically, she was delusional,” he said.
In her interview with police, Javier said she had suspected he had cheated on her before, an accusation she said he always denied. She also mentioned she had grown increasingly incensed by the limited attention he paid her.
Javier told police she grew enraged, went to a shopping mall and purchased a samurai sword.
She spent the next week stewing and plotting her violent revenge, she said.
Her anger peaked the night of March 2 when Lovell returned home and ignored her, Javier said. About 9 p.m., she went into the couple’s bedroom, where she had taped the samurai sword and two knives to her side of the bed, the police report shows.
Lovell later joined her and drifted off to sleep. Javier told police she hid her boyfriend’s phone so he couldn’t call for help.
After the lights went out, Javier said she retrieved he samurai sword – then brought it down on her boyfriend, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Lovell said he woke up to being attacked by Javier. His instincts kicked in, and he drew on a lifetime of Kung Fu films and martial arts training.
“I was able to wing chun my way to survival,” Lovell said referring to a traditional form of Chinese martial art that focuses on close-range combat.
Eventually he got her into a bear hug.
“I saw the look in her eyes, and it scared the living poop out of me,” he said. “I told her I loved her, and she was killing me. She needed to call police, or I was going to die.”
A 911 call obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive reveals a woman who appears to be stricken with grief and horror over the violent outburst.
The distraught woman, who identifies herself as Emily Javier, tells a dispatcher she just stabbed her boyfriend repeatedly with a sword.
She tells the dispatcher she couldn’t go into the bedroom because there was too much blood.
“I think he’s dead. You need to hurry,” the woman tells the dispatcher.
Officers arrived at the couple’s Northeast Garfield Street home minutes after the 1:54 a.m. call. Officers entered the bedroom and found the walls splattered with blood and Lovell curled up in ball, the police report shows.
He was rushed to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Lovell’s index, middle and ring fingers were nearly lopped off at the base though doctors have been able to reattach them, he said.
He has deep lacerations on his feet and legs and may have fractured his right wrist, which is in a cast, Lovell said. There are various other wounds to his torso, neck and left side of his head.
“Obviously, I got some gnarly injuries,” he said.
Members of the “PlayerUnknown’s Battleground” gaming community have launched a GoFundMe campaign for Lovell. As of Wednesday, it had raised $8,000.
Lovell said he anticipates a long road to recovery. It could be six months until he’s walking again, and he will require extensive physical therapy to regain the full use of his hands.
Until then, Lovell is savoring the small victories.
“The feeling I had when I won the fight with my bare hands is just absolutely the best feeling,” he said. “I’ve played all the sports, won big games, landed some decent tricks on my snowboard. This was better.”
Story Courtesy Oregonlive.com‘s Shane Dizon Kavanagh
