1 dead, 1 hurt in Paseo stabbing

A man was killed and another is in critical condition after being stabbed at the Paseo de Marianas early Monday morning—the second such stabbing incident at the Paseo de Marianas this year.

According to a Department of Public Safety news release yesterday, one of the victims was trying to break up a fight between the suspect and the other victim when he was also stabbed. It was not immediately clear which one of the two victims died.

The DPS news release said that the incident happened in front of the former Famous Shoes establishment at the Paseo.

Reportedly, DPS received a call regarding the stabbing incident at about 2:04am of Monday. Responding police officers found the two male victims lying on the ground by the former Famous Shoes establishment. Medics from the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services arrived on the scene and transported both victims to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp for further treatment. One male victim was pronounced dead, while the other male victim was admitted into the hospital for further care. 

Preliminary investigation indicated that in the early morning of Monday, May 9, a group of Chinese males was seen walking into the Paseo de Marianas after a night out. While walking through the Paseo, one member of the group, Victim No. 1, saw an unknown individual, later identified as Rui Jun Huang, and greeted him while continuing to walk, but Huang began “talking loudly.” Victim No. 1 left the group and approached Huang before a brief fight ensued. The fight was immediately broken up by the group and other witnesses in the area and the group left the scene.

Several minutes later, the group doubled back through Paseo de Marianas to head back to a friend’s house and ran into Huang again. According to witnesses, Victim No. 1 left the group to confront Huang again. Victim No. 2 followed to stop Huang and Victim No. 1 from arguing again. At this point, Huang allegedly pulled out a knife and separately stabbed both victims. A member of the group then restrained Huang as they called for police assistance.

A witness separately told Saipan Tribune that, prior to the stabbing, the witness saw and heard the group of men arguing, but walked away before the physical altercation happened.

Police soon arrived at the scene, arrested the suspect, and brought him to the Department of Corrections.

According to the DPS spokesperson Dre Pangelinan, the case is still under investigation but, as of right now, the case is classified as a homicide.

The first stabbing case this year at the Paseo de Marianas happened on New Year’s Day.