ST. GEORGE — Police released the name of the stabbing victim killed at a residence off Dixie Downs Road last week, along with information relating to the circumstances surrounding the murder.
The victim, 23-year-old Luwing Leonard Lopez, was killed June 21 during an altercation that took place at Red Shadows Mobile Home Park, according to a statement from police Tuesday.
Victor Manuel Hernandez, 21, was arrested shortly after midnight Saturday for the murder of Lopez.
Read more: Suspect arrested in trailer park killing
Officers were dispatched to the residence after neighbors reported that a violent altercation may have taken place inside of the mobile home.
Responding officers found Lopez dead at the scene, and witnesses told police that Hernandez said that he’d killed someone, according to the affidavit in support of the arrest warrant filed Monday.
Police say that Hernandez and Lopez, who were friends, were at the residence in Red Shadow Mobile Home Park while visiting the area when the incident took place.
The two men got into a conversation that escalated into a heated argument when Hernandez allegedly stabbed Lopez multiple times, according to police.
Detectives were called in to process the scene and collect evidence while Hernandez was being questioned by police.
The incident was initially reported by a third party who did not have “all of the information,” and additional details came to light after detectives conducted further interviews and collected evidence at the scene, according to the statement.
During questioning, Hernandez admitted to investigators that he “intentionally killed the male victim with a knife” that was recovered from the scene, the affidavit states.
Hernandez was arrested and booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility on Saturday.
On Monday, Hernandez was charged with murder, a first-degree felony, according to court documents, and is scheduled to appear in 5th District court Tuesday.
“We would like to express our condolences to the family of Luwing Lopez at this time,” the police statement reads.
Hernandez remains in jail on $250,000 bail.
This report is based on statements from police or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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tensions are bound to escalate to conflict when you get so many of them inside a “mobile home”. I know it’s not nice to say, but it’s almost too bad it wasn’t a multiple. Then it could be like a folklore thing and we could call it “the trailer park killin’s of 2018”. These could be some of obama’s wonderful dreamer kids, but we can only speculate on their legality i guess.
and another stupid comment by the Prophet Bob
Remember when Dumpster had something relevant to add to the conversation? Yea, me either.
If he does this to a friend, I’d hate to be a enemy of his….I guess just another looking for a better life here, either way, death row coming soon Mijo…maybe even the Utah firing squad, been on the down low from 2010 on, so time to reload
Don’t ya just hate it when you get into a little argument with a “friend” (?) and they stab you to death?