By Christina Santucci and Connor Adams Sheets
One white candle sat in front of El Rodeo Chicano on 37th Avenue Tuesday, probably in memory of an unidentified man who was killed nearby over the weekend. On the metal storefront gate of the shop, someone had written the phrase “Corona rules the World.”
Police were still searching for one or more suspects in the Sunday morning double-stabbing that left one man dead in Corona.
Police responded at 5 a.m. to a 911 call reporting two people stabbed at 98th Street and 37th Avenue, according to police. When they arrived, they discovered two Hispanic men with multiple stab wounds, police said.
Emergency responders took them to Elmhurst General Hospital, where one of the victims was pronounced dead on arrival. Police have not released the medical status of the second stab victim. No one had been arrested in connection with the stabbings as of Tuesday and police had not yet notified the deceased victim’s family. Police declined to release the victims’ names Tuesday and the investigation was ongoing.
Tereso Cruz, an employee of Bambinos Pizzeria Corp. at the corner of 98th Street and 37th Avenue, said police patrol the neighborhood constantly.
“I don’t know what the police were doing,” he said. “They were here, but I don’t know what they were doing.”
Cruz’s shift started at 8 a.m. Sunday, so by the time he arrived for work, he said there was not much left to see.
A man who refused to be identified said police barricades at the scene were there for a mobile police command set up on the street before the slaying took place.
“The mobile precinct was parked in front of the barber shop and that’s where the stabbing was,” he said. “This street was closed down all weekend because of the mobile precinct.”
A fire killed a 5-year-old boy who was trapped in an apartment in a building at the same intersection in 2008.
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
