MA, Granddad killed in pal's suicide try
Mark Fenster
A grandfather tried to stop a suicide, but ended up getting stabbed to
death.
Interesting use of non-lethal force by the police to subdue the
alleged attacker, Venancio Garcia, age 77.
Fenster
**********************************************************************
Granddad killed in pal's suicide try
By O'Ryan Johnson and Andrew Kosow
Staff Writers 08/11/2003
LAWRENCE. A 70-year-old good Samaritan was stabbed to death in front
of his family last night as he tried to stop his longtime friend from
killing himself, police said.
Bienvenido Grullon of 65 Union St., Apt. 101, died from several stab
wounds to the chest. Police have charged neighbor Venancio Garcia, 77,
who lives in Apt. 401 of the the same building, with his murder and
assault by means of a dangerous weapon.
Grullon, a grandfather of 42, was hosting a get-together of about 20
family members around 8 p.m. when Garcia burst in with "superficial"
cuts to his right arm, police said. As Grullon and his granddaughter
Rosario Felix, 29, tried to talk Garcia out of further hurting
himself, Garcia plunged the 6-inch kitchen knife several times into
Grullon's chest, police said.
The two struggled outside the first-floor apartment, ending up in the
lobby of the city's senior citizen housing complex, where Grullon went
down, police said.
Building resident John Proctor said he was coming home through the
lobby door when he saw Garcia swinging a knife wildly at a crowd that
had gathered. Proctor said he wrestled Garcia out of the building,
then barred the door to keep the man from coming back inside.
Officers Carl Farrington, John Nicoletti, and John Bernard arrived
moments later, and said Garcia turned on them with the knife.
Farrington doused Garcia with pepper spray. When Garcia still would
not release the knife, Nicoletti knocked the knife from his hand with
a baton, police said. Police Chief John J. Romero said in that
situation, police are allowed to shoot.
"They chose not to shoot. They chose to try to take him in alive,"
Romero said. "It shows great courage on the part of the officers and
restraint with how they handled the situation. They didn't know what
they were walking into when they got there."
Police roped off the block around 65 Union St. -- a building owned by
the Lawrence Housing Authority and serving about 100 residents. They
interviewed several of Grullon's relatives on park benches just feet
from where the killing occurred. When Grullon's family got word of his
death about two hours after the stabbing, anguished cries went up from
several corners of the small brick courtyard and groups of relatives
clung to one another for support.
Jonathan Paulino, 11, one of Grullon's grandchildren, said he and his
mother stopped by last night for one of the family's regular
get-togethers, when the killing happened. He said he was in his
grandfather's bedroom when he heard a commotion and ran into the
hallway.
"He was laying on the floor," the boy said of the last time he saw his
grandfather.
Juan Guzman, another grandchild, drove away from last night's
get-together before the stabbing, but returned moments afterward when
a relative phoned him with the terrible news.
"He was the best person," he said of his grandfather. "He was always
trying to help people."
Grullon's wife, Teresa Gonzalez, died in 2001. Grullon had lived in
his apartment for three years, family members said. It is a place
where there are never any problems. "Nothing ever happened there --
until last night," Romero said.
Police, who described Garcia as suicidal, are still searching for a
reason why he would kill Grullon.
Lawrence Housing Authority officials said Garcia's wife recently moved
out of the apartment they shared. Police did not know how long Garcia
had lived there prior to the killing.
Proctor, a 14-year resident of the building, said Garcia had been
upset since his wife's departure.
He and another neighbor, Lisa Thomas, often saw Garcia and Grullon
drinking together.
Garcia, who suffered a broken left arm in the scuffle, spent the night
under constant supervision, Romero said. He was taken to Lawrence
General Hospital for treatment and arrived back at the police station
heavily medicated, Romero said.
"He is on a suicide watch and somebody was assigned to stay with him
and watch him the entire night," Romero said this morning.
Last night's incident marks the second time in four days city police
officers were involved in a deadly force situation, and were able to
defuse the situation without firing a shot.
Wednesday morning, two officers were charged by a man in a Pleasant
Street apartment who swung a meat cleaver at them as they faced him
with their guns drawn. The officers held their fire and the man
surrendered moments later.
Staff Writer Jim Patten contributed to this report.
Michael Snyder
Mark Fenster wrote in message ...
>Gentlepeople,
>
>A grandfather tried to stop a suicide, but ended up getting stabbed to
>death.
>
>Interesting use of non-lethal force by the police to subdue the
>alleged attacker, Venancio Garcia, age 77.
>
>Fenster
>
>**********************************************************************
>
>
>
>Granddad killed in pal's suicide try
>By O'Ryan Johnson and Andrew Kosow
>Staff Writers 08/11/2003
>
>LAWRENCE. A 70-year-old good Samaritan was stabbed to death in front
>of his family last night as he tried to stop his longtime friend from
>killing himself, police said.
>
>Bienvenido Grullon of 65 Union St., Apt. 101, died from several stab
>wounds to the chest. Police have charged neighbor Venancio Garcia, 77,
>who lives in Apt. 401 of the the same building, with his murder and
>assault by means of a dangerous weapon.
>
>Grullon, a grandfather of 42, was hosting a get-together of about 20
>family members around 8 p.m
Umm, whoa. 42 is not his age, since we know that's 70, so
it has to mean "grandfather of 42 grandchildren". That's a
lot of grandchildren... seven kids with six sub-kids each?
Mark Fenster
> Mark Fenster wrote in message ...
> >Gentlepeople,
> >
> >A grandfather tried to stop a suicide, but ended up getting stabbed to
> >death.
> >
> >Interesting use of non-lethal force by the police to subdue the
> >alleged attacker, Venancio Garcia, age 77.
> >
> >Fenster
> >
> >**********************************************************************
> >
> >
> >
> >Granddad killed in pal's suicide try
> >By O'Ryan Johnson and Andrew Kosow
> >Staff Writers 08/11/2003
> >
> >LAWRENCE. A 70-year-old good Samaritan was stabbed to death in front
> >of his family last night as he tried to stop his longtime friend from
> >killing himself, police said.
> >
> >Bienvenido Grullon of 65 Union St., Apt. 101, died from several stab
> >wounds to the chest. Police have charged neighbor Venancio Garcia, 77,
> >who lives in Apt. 401 of the the same building, with his murder and
> >assault by means of a dangerous weapon.
> >
> >Grullon, a grandfather of 42, was hosting a get-together of about 20
> >family members around 8 p.m
>
> Umm, whoa. 42 is not his age, since we know that's 70, so
> it has to mean "grandfather of 42 grandchildren". That's a
> lot of grandchildren... seven kids with six sub-kids each?
Yea, I was a bit skeptical of that 42 number myself. I agree with
you, the number would mean has was "grandfather of 42 grandchildren".
While bigger families were more common in the past than now, I would
guess that the number of 42 grandchildren was probably an estimate of
the number of grandchildren given to the reporter, and we will
probably never know the actual number.
Fenster