Ongoing Neighbors’ Fight Leaves 1 Man Dead

A 26-year-old man who got into a fight with two of his neighbors over his treatment of a little girl allegedly stabbed one of them to death after going to a store and purchasing a steak knife, police said Monday.

Neighbors chased down the suspect, Felipe Patricio of Fullerton, and held him for police. He was being held without bail at Orange County Jail on suspicion of murder in connection with the death of Abel Enrique Luna, 24.

Police said Luna was trying to protect an unidentified woman from Patricio after she told the suspect to stop pulling a 10-year-old girl by the hair. Patricio slapped the woman and Luna intervened, triggering a string of arguments and fights that ended with Luna’s death late Sunday night, police said.

Several neighbors, including Maria Becerra, who described herself as Patricio’s girlfriend, said the suspect had been drinking heavily that day.

According to neighbors, Patricio and Luna began to argue about 3 p.m. after Patricio scolded the 10-year-old for the way she was taking care of an infant. After he pulled the girl’s hair, her mother demanded to know why. Patricio then slapped her, neighbors said.

Becerra said that Luna then walked over to the couple’s open window and demanded to see Patricio. As soon as her boyfriend stepped outside of their apartment, Becerra said, the two men started fighting in the small courtyard of their East Wilshire Avenue apartment complex.

“I yelled at them to calm down,” Becerra said in Spanish, adding that she called police when the men continued to fight.

However, Fullerton Police Detective Sgt. Danny Becerra said officers first answered a call at the apartment complex about 8 p.m. Danny Becerra and Maria Becerra are not related.

Maria Becerra said that Luna won the fistfight, leaving Patricio bleeding from the nose, eye and mouth.

Police said Patricio left the area, walked down to a Lucky Food Center about a block a way, purchased a small steak knife and returned. Police said that about 10:45 p.m., Luna approached Patricio, made several hostile remarks and the two began fighting again.

Police said that this time, Patricio stabbed Luna. Luna was taken to St. Jude Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Fullerton with three stab wounds in the upper chest and one in the right thigh. He died about 11:45 p.m.

Victor Martinez, 11, said he came out of his home just as that fight ended. He said he saw Luna on the ground and Patricio running away. He said that he and about six men, including some of Luna’s friends, chased Patricio, catching him about a block away.

Police said that they expect the Orange County district attorney’s office to file formal murder charges against Patricio today.

Told that Luna had been killed, Maria Becerra expressed surprise, saying that as far as she knew Patricio did not have a knife. She added that her boyfriend is normally a very gentle man.

“He doesn’t fight with anybody,” she said, fighting back tears. “He is a good man.”