Bar Patrons Hold Suspect After Slaying

Patrons at a 1st Street bar captured a knife-wielding Costa Mesa man who had fatally stabbed one of their friends, police said Sunday.

Police Sgt. John Dittus said Stephen Douglas Plain, 40, was being held in Orange County Jail on suspicion of murder.

Makelo (Jim) Mageo, 48, of Santa Ana was rushed to the UCI Medical Center where he died after the Saturday night incident, Dittus said.

Police said Mageo was drinking with friends and relatives at the Sportsman Tavern at 4406 W. 1st St. when the suspect entered about 7:30 p.m.

“The suspect made an unsuccessful effort to steal some of the victim’s money, which had been lying on the counter,” Dittus said. “The victim confronted the suspect, and he was stabbed in the throat with a 12-inch kitchen knife. Several bar patrons observed the victim bleeding and managed to subdue and apprehend the suspect before he fled the scene.”

Business was back to normal at the bar on Sunday, but the regulars were “sitting around and wondering why this happened here,” said Bruce Hagen, son of the tavern’s owner, Jack Hagen.

“Mageo was a good friend of mine,” Hagen said. “He was a regular around here. . . . He came in every day. But the suspect had never been in here before. He was a total stranger.”

Mageo was a cement and iron worker, Hagen said.

Hagen said Plain had brought the 12-inch knife into the bar hidden in his clothing.

In addition to Mageo’s fatal stabbing, Santa Ana police on Sunday were investigating the beating death of an unidentified man whose body was found in the gutter in the 200 block of Bush Street.

Police said witnesses saw one man beating the victim with a club and a second man robbing him.