PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KNX) — A Palm Springs Man was behind bars Thursday on an attempted murder charge after allegedly stabbing his neighbor, then threatening to stab an ampm clerk.
Police said they responded to a stabbing call at 10:51 a.m. Wednesday in the 1300 block of East Vista Chino. Officers contacted a man, who told them his neighbor approached him and they got into an altercation.
During the fight, the suspect — identified as 40-year-old Christopher Freitas — stabbed the victim with a knife and then fled the area on foot, police said. The cause of the fight was being investigated.
While on scene, police received reports of a man with a knife matching Freitas’ description at an ampm convenience store in the 1700 block of East Vista Chino.
Officers arrived and found Freitas outside the store, where he was detained without incident, police said.
Witnesses told police Freitas was inside the store acting erratic, eating food without paying for it and when he was asked to stop, he allegedly grabbed the plastic partition of the counter and demanded the clerk give him cigarettes.
When the clerk refused, Freitas allegedly walked around the counter and grabbed a pair of scissors, then aggressively approached the clerk and attempted to stab him, police said.
Customers inside the store reacted quickly and grabbed Freitas, throwing him to the ground and fighting with him before they threw him outside the store, police added.
Freitas was booked into the John Benoit Detention Center in Indio, Calif. on charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and criminal threats. He’s currently being held on $1 million bail, according to Riverside County Sheriff’s inmate records.
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