Transient fight results in stabbing

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- A quarrel over sleeping space among a group of homeless

people turned violent early Tuesday when one man pulled out a knife and

stabbed another man multiple times, police officials said.

Police arrested Feliciano Aguirre-Flores, 25, on suspicion of

attempted murder. The victim, Jose Rivera, 26, was stabbed four times but

did not suffer life-threatening injuries, said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Don

Holford.

Rivera was in town from Tustin visiting friends, also transients,

Holford said. Rivera and his friends were sleeping in a rear parking lot

in the 1800 block of Anaheim Avenue when Aguirre-Flores approached them

and asked them to leave.

When they refused, Aguirre-Flores got into a fight with the group over

who could sleep in that location, police said. During the fight,

Aguirre-Flores pulled out a knife, cut Rivera on the face and then

stabbed him four times -- in the left thigh, left shoulder, right wrist

and head -- Holford said.

A police officer driving past the parking lot detained Aguirre-Flores,

who was later arrested on the scene. Rivera was taken to Western Medical

Center in Santa Ana, where he is being treated for the stab wounds.

Such incidents are not common among the local transient population,

Holford said.

“Such assaults are not too frequent,” he said. “We’ve had a few in the

bluffs in the past.”

Holford said homeless people are found sleeping in church parking lots

and other available spaces on the city’s Westside.

“It’s not what we want to see,” he said. “But obviously it does

happen.”

In November, police arrested a 39-year-old homeless man on suspicion

of bludgeoning to death another transient. The 47-year-old dead man was

found in some bushes in a commercial area in the 2000 block of Harbor

Boulevard.

Aguirre-Flores is being held in Costa Mesa jail in lieu of a $250,000

bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned at Harbor Justice Center today.

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .