HUNTINGTON BEACH : Ex-Neighbor Held in Fatal Stabbing

A 30-year-old man was stabbed to death Tuesday during an argument over a battery charger with his former neighbor, whom police later arrested on suspicion of murder.

Mike Thomas was stabbed in the chest about 9:50 a.m. in the 8400 block of Alvarado Drive.

Robert Russell, 31, was arrested at the scene and was held at City Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Thomas, who met Russell several years ago when he was living next door, was stabbed in the front yard of Russell’s home, said Lt. Dan Johnson. Police said Thomas no longer lives in Huntington Beach and was there visiting friends who live near Russell.

Thomas’ friend Donna Greene said he stumbled into her house with “so much blood” that she had trouble finding where he had been wounded in a futile effort to help him.

“I was in a state of shock, I didn’t know what to do,” said Greene, 41, who knew both Russell and Thomas. “It had been an ongoing feud with those two, but I never thought it would come to this.”

Greene said feelings between the two men went sour years ago when one accused the other of stealing, but no formal charges were filed. Since then, verbal confrontations have erupted but that was as far as it went, she said.

On Tuesday, Greene was sleeping when she heard Thomas screaming “He stabbed me.” She ran out of her bedroom and saw that he was soaked in blood. Greene said she told a friend to call 911 while she got a towel to try to stop the bleeding.

Thomas died at UCI Medical Center, police said.

Police found what they believe to be the weapon.