HEMET: Officials investigating downtown stabbing

HEMET — Very few details are known and officials have not yet released any information following a stabbing in downtown Hemet, early Saturday morning, Apr. 7. Although the incident reportedly happened at Rob Kelly’s After 5 Cocktail Lounge at 133 North Harvard Street, between E. Latham and E. Florida Avenues, officials have not yet confirmed the exact location where the stabbing occurred.

SEE ALSO: Hemet police seek help solving 2016 downtown fatal stabbing of Marine veteran, father

City of Hemet Police and Fire personnel along with other emergency first responders were dispatched to the area about 1:10 a.m., after receiving reports of a stabbing at the location. According to callers a Black male adult had been stabbed multiple times. At least one 911 caller reported the victim was stabbed in the chest.

When officers arrived they immediately began investigating the incident, while Hemet Fire paramedics treated the victim’s injuries. The man appeared to be having difficulty breathing and he was eventually transported to an area hospital with what appeared to be bloody wounds to the back of his head as well as back and shoulder. No further information regarding the victim’s medical condition was available.

While medical personnel treated the victim, several men sat handcuffed along the curb, while a small crowd of onlookers – some from inside nearby bars, others who happened to be passing through the downtown area – stood by watching the ongoing investigation. Several were eventually interviewed by officers.

Officers investigating the incident were later seen bagging and collecting several items of evidence before transporting two people to Hemet PD for further investigation.

It was not immediately known if either of the detained were later arrested.

Online jail records indicated officers arrested Olegario Perez at the same location ten minutes after the stabbing was reported, but it was not yet known if his arrest was related in any way to the stabbing.

Perez was booked into jail on suspicion of inflicting corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant and public intoxication and was released the following day after posting $30,000 bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned at an unspecified court, May 18.

No booking information regarding the second person was able to be located.

At this time the motive behind the stabbing is unknown, and a request has been sent to Hemet PD for information related to the incident.

This is a developing story that will be updated as new information becomes available.

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Trevor Montgomery, 46, recently moved to Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for Riverside County based newspapers Valley News, The Valley Chronicle and Anza Valley Outlook as well as 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, breaking his back and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries 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.