A 39-year-old man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of murder after stabbing a man with a 3-foot sword in Denver, police said.
Patrick Browne was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, first-degree assault and felony menacing, according to an arrest affidavit released by the Denver Police Department on Monday.
The Denver medical examiner’s office identified the victim as Isaiah Martinez, 20. He died at Denver Health Medical Center after he was stabbed.
The stabbing stemmed from a verbal argument between Browne and Martinez, who was driving and stopped at a red light at the intersection of South Lipan Street and West Evans Avenue in the College View-South Platte neighborhood around 11:30 a.m. Sunday, .
An unidentified witness to the stabbing told police Sunday that he and the victim were driving together down West Evans Avenue when they came to a stop at a red light on South Lipan Street, where Browne was standing on the corner, according to the affidavit.
In the affidavit, the witness told police Browne began to argue with the pair while they were stopped at the light and, when they went to turn, threw a drink through the front passenger window of their car.
Instead of continuing to drive, Martinez and the witness got out of the car, “waiting to see what … Browne was going to do,” police wrote in the affidavit.
That’s when Browne “pulled a large sword from his roller suitcase and said that he would ‘f* stab’ them,” the witness told police.
Martinez tried to get back in the car after Browne started walking toward him but was stabbed in the stomach with a sword before he could make it, according to the affidavit. The witness was uninjured.
Police said Martinez was able to pull himself back into the car and drive away, but quickly passed out. In the affidavit, the witness told officers he had to reach over and grab control of the steering wheel to get the vehicle stopped before calling 911.
Officers responded to the 2000 block of South Lipan Street around 11 a.m. Sunday, police said. Paramedics took Martinez to hospital, where he died from his injuries around 12:30 p.m.
Browne and the victim did not know each other, according to police.
Updated Oct. 4 at 6:35 p.m. with the victim’s name.
