Shrine honors victims of fatal July 4 stabbing in Huntington Beach, as anniversary returns

While Huntington Beach this week prepared for Independence Day weekend festivities, a small memorial near 16th Street and Pecan Avenue went up in honor of two local men fatally stabbed last July Fourth by a suspect still awaiting trial.

Some votive candles, flags and red, white and blue bunting were seen Wednesday around a light pole outside the apartment complex where, just after 11 p.m. on the night of July 4, 2024, two men were killed in an attack while watching a neighborhood fireworks display.

Eric Clayton Hodges, 42, of Huntington Beach, seen with fiance Jourdan, was fatally stabbed on July 4, 2024, as he watched fireworks with friends.

(Screenshot from KTLA)

Eric Clayton Hodges, 42, of Huntington Beach was stabbed in the heart, while 47-year-old William Thomas Collins, who lived nearby on the 400 block of 16th Street, was stabbed in the lung and the neck, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. Both men died from their wounds.

Three others in the area — including two 35-year-old men and one of their fathers, aged 68 — received non life-threatening stab wounds during the incident.

Several people detained the alleged suspect, Logan Christopher Kelley, then 26 years old, of Redondo Beach, until police arrived on scene. Kelley reportedly spat on a Huntington Beach police officer and used a racial slur during his arrest, prosecutors reported last year in a July 9 release.

Beach chairs and a cooler remained at the corner of 16th Street and Pecan Avenue, where two men were killed and three more injured in a random attack the night of July 4, 2024.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“Violence of any kind will never be acceptable, and while we mourn the loss of Eric and William, we remain steadfast in our commitment to justice to hold their killer accountable for their deaths,” said Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer.

Kelley was charged with two counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, all felonies, as well as a misdemeanor charge of committing battery on an officer and several sentencing enhancements, including attempted premeditated murder, court records indicate.

Prosecutors believe Kelley had no prior relationship with the group before the attack, which they allege was induced by hallucinogenic drugs.

During a Sept. 13, 20247 arraignment hearing, the Redondo Beach man pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is scheduled to appear in court this Oct. 24 for a pre-trial readiness conference, records show. Prosecutors said if Kelley is convicted, he could be eligible for the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole.

Items of remembrance were left this week near an apartment complex where two Huntington Beach men were killed during a July 4, 2024, stabbing. The suspect, 26-year-old Redondo Beach resident Logan Christopher Kelley, could face the death penalty or life in prison for the attack.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)