Estancia grad dies in stabbing

Estancia High School graduate Mike Sharp was killed Tuesday when a

customer at the Cerritos car dealership where Sharp worked stabbed

him repeatedly, authorities said.

Sharp, 34, is survived by his wife, Katie. Katie has two children,

Tyler and Ashlee, from a previous marriage, and is five months

pregnant with Sharp’s first child. The couple had been living in

Corona.

“Obviously with three kids, I don’t know what she’s going to do,”

said Sharp’s friend, Dan White.

The couple married July 9, and Sharp has recently started working

at the dealership, White said. Sharp’s father was in the car

business, and it was a career that Sharp excelled in, White said.

“Mike was a great salesman; he was very honest, he would never lie

to people,” White said. “He wasn’t out to make the buck; he was out

to provide a service.”

Sharp graduated from Estancia in 1990. In his two years at

Estancia, Sharp participated in the golf team and played on the

school’s championship basketball team.

White and Sharp played basketball together in high school and had

stayed close over the years, White said. “He just happened to sit

next to me, and we just hit it off; he’s just a great guy,” White

said.

Sharp was working at a Chevrolet dealership on Studebaker Road in

Cerritos, when a man entered the dealership Tuesday night and asked

to test-drive a vehicle.

“The suspect became violent and produced a large butcher knife,”

according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s

Department.

Sharp was stabbed several times in the chest and was taken to a

local hospital, where he died, police said.

Employees at the dealership were able to detain the man until

police arrived, police said.

The suspect was later identified as Melchor Macaso, 35, of

Norwalk, police said.

Macaso is being held on $1 million bail on suspicion of

first-degree murder, police said.

A memorial for Sharp is set for noon on Saturday at the Thomas

Miller Mortuary, 1118 E. Sixth St., Corona.