RIVERSIDE: Fatal stabbing during mall restaurant fight ends with 1 dead, 1 arrested
RIVERSIDE – Authorities arrested a Riverside resident after a fist fight led to the fatal stabbing of another Riverside resident at a Riverside restaurant Sunday, April 30. The stabbing happened at the T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant in the Galleria at Tyler shopping mall parking lot at 3487 Tyler Street in Riverside.
Authorities arrested Denzel Cooley after he allegedly stabbed a man multiple times during a fight at a mall restaurant. RSO booking photo
The suspect was later detained at an area hospital and identified as 25-year-old Denzel Deon Cooley.
After an investigation, officers arrested Cooley and he was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center for murder and personal use of a deadly weapon, Riverside Police Public Information Officer Ryan J. Railsback explained in a written press release after the arrest.
City of Riverside Police and Fire personnel were dispatched to the mall restaurant about 4:11 p.m., after the police department’s Dispatch Center received several 911 calls reporting two men fighting inside the restaurant.
While officers were still responding to the location, dispatchers updated that the fight had spilled outside and continued, resulting in the fatal stabbing.
Responding officers learned that both men had been transported separately to an area hospital by family members.
The victim, who was later identified as Jermaine Horn, 34, of Riverside, was stabbed multiple times. Despite life-saving efforts, Horn succumbed to his injuries and he was pronounced dead by Kaiser Foundation Hospital emergency room staff. According to coroner’s officials Horn died about 30 minutes after he was stabbed and he was pronounced dead about 4:38 p.m.
Detectives from the department’s Robbery – Homicide Unit responded to the scene and assumed the investigation. They were assisted by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, Riverside Sheriff – Coroner’s officials and evidence technicians from the department’s Forensic Unit.
Based on their preliminary investigation, detectives determined the deadly confrontation started inside the restaurant. The fight eventually moved out of the restaurant into the restaurant’s parking lot.
“At one point, the suspect went outside to his vehicle and retrieved two knives,” Railsback explained. “He confronted the victim, now standing outside the front doors, and a second physical altercation occurred during which the suspect stabbed the victim multiple times.”
Officials did not specify what led to the fight and fatal stabbing or if the two Riverside residents knew each other before the fatal confrontation.
After the fatal stabbing, Cooley’s family transported him to the same hospital the victim had been transported to. He was brought in to the hospital’s emergency room with “non-life threatening” laceration to his arm, said Railsback.
After officers detained Cooley in the hospital’s emergency room, they transported him to another hospital for treatment of his injury.
An online jail records search revealed Cooley is being held on $1 million bail and he is scheduled to be arraigned at the Riverside Hall of Justice May 3.
“Detectives believe there may be additional witnesses to this incident,” said Railsback, who requested anyone who witnessed the deadly stabbing to contact Riverside PD Robbery – Homicide detectives.
This investigation is still active and ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Adrian Tillett at (951) 353-7105 or by email, or Detective Jim Simons at (951) 353-7139 or by email.
Contact the writer: [email protected]
Trevor Montgomery runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News and Anza Valley Outlook and also writes for Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg and breaking his back in an off-duty accident.
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center and Lake Elsinore Station, along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 26 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and has 13 children and 12 – soon to be 13 – grandchildren.