DENVER (AP) - The Latest on the stabbing of a chef by a homeless man in Denver (all times local):
1:50 p.m.
A homeless man who claimed he stabbed a Denver chef in self-defense has been charged with first-degree murder.
The charge filed against Raoul Solis Lanius on Thursday implies prosecutors think he killed Marlon Casanova after some amount of deliberation Monday morning.
Lanius told police he stabbed Casanova in self-defense after Casanova tried to force him and his girlfriend from their sleeping spot in Denver’s LoDo neighborhood. The 53-year-old said he used a racial epithet against Casanova, which he said led Casanova to charge at him.
However, Casanova’s friends told The Denver Post they didn’t believe the claim, saying the 35-year-old hard working chef lived in an apartment nearby and never even raised his voice at anyone.
A spokesman for District Attorney Beth McCann, Ken Lane, declined to comment on what prosecutors think led up to the stabbing.
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8:40 a.m.
Friends of a Denver chef stabbed to death by a homeless man say they don’t believe the suspect’s claim that he was trying to defend himself.
Raoul Solis Lanius told police he stabbed 35-year-old Marlon Casanova after Casanova tried to force him and his girlfriend from their sleeping spot in Denver’s LoDo neighborhood early Monday. The 53-year-old acknowledged using a racial epithet against Casanova, whom he said charged him.
But a half dozen friends told The Denver Post that Casanova was walking to his nearby apartment when he was stabbed. They say he was a soft-spoken person who never raised his voice at anyone and worked six or seven days a week at two upscale restaurants.
Friend Conner Gooding called Casanova “one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.”
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