NEWPORT BEACH : Suspect in Fatal Stabbing Surrenders

A 15-year-old continuation high school student is suspected of stabbing a 24-year-old man to death in a fight that erupted during a barbecue at an apartment complex.

Armando Rosales Azurin of Costa Mesa was pronounced dead while he underwent surgery at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, where he was taken shortly after the incident at 9:18 p.m. Thursday, Police Lt. Paul Henisey said.

Witnesses said the teen-ager, who lives at the apartment complex in the 1500 block of Placentia Avenue, ran from the scene after the stabbing. He later surrendered to police.

The youth, whose name was not released because of his age, is being held at Orange County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of murder.

The knife police believe was used was found near the scene.

Neighbors at the large apartment complex said the victim had been drinking heavily and was arguing with several people at the gathering.

“Everyone was angry with (Azurin) and told him to go home,” resident Franchesa Hentsch said Friday. “Everyone had warned him.”

Hentsch and her husband, George Hentsch, said a group of about 15 people had been barbecuing and drinking for several hours.

“You could see that trouble was going to happen, it was in the air,” he said. “We saw them fighting outside an apartment upstairs, then they came downstairs to a grassy area. At first we thought they were just punching each other. We couldn’t believe he got stabbed.”

Uriah Messrah, 18, said he saw the fight from his front door, about 15 feet from where the stabbing occurred.

“It was chaotic,” Messrah said. “There were a lot of people crowded on the stairs and the balcony. Everyone was partying, then there was a scuffle. I heard glasses and bottles breaking and a woman got pushed down the stairs.

“From where I was standing at my door, I didn’t see him get stabbed but I saw him get up and he was bleeding and pointing his finger. Then he was on the ground and everyone rushed around him.”

The neighbors said the victim often visited his brother at the complex.

Azurin died two hours after being taken to Hoag Hospital, only blocks away. He had multiple stab wounds to the upper torso, Henisey said.

Residents said the incident was uncharacteristic of the apartment complex.

“There’s usually not violence here,” Messrah said. “This is the first time anything like this has happened.”

It was the second killing in the city this year. Last year, there were no homicides in Newport Beach, Henisey said.