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Police: Suspect accused of fatally stabbing 2 men was drunk

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(Joe Ahlquist/The Rochester Post-Bulletin via AP). Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a fatal stabbing Saturday, March 17, 2018, at the Salvation Army Castleview Residence in downtown Rochester, Minn. Police have arrested a man in the multiple... (Joe Ahlquist/The Rochester Post-Bulletin via AP). Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a fatal stabbing Saturday, March 17, 2018, at the Salvation Army Castleview Residence in downtown Rochester, Minn. Police have arrested a man in the multiple...
(Joe Ahlquist/The Rochester Post-Bulletin via AP). A victim is carried to a waiting ambulance after a stabbing Saturday, March 17, 2018, at the Salvation Army Castleview Residence in downtown Rochester, Minn. Police have arrested a man in the fatal sta... (Joe Ahlquist/The Rochester Post-Bulletin via AP). A victim is carried to a waiting ambulance after a stabbing Saturday, March 17, 2018, at the Salvation Army Castleview Residence in downtown Rochester, Minn. Police have arrested a man in the fatal sta...
(Joe Ahlquist/The Rochester Post-Bulletin via AP). Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a stabbing Saturday, March 17, 2018, at the Salvation Army Castleview Residence in downtown Rochester, Minn. Multiple victims were transported a hospital, ac... (Joe Ahlquist/The Rochester Post-Bulletin via AP). Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a stabbing Saturday, March 17, 2018, at the Salvation Army Castleview Residence in downtown Rochester, Minn. Multiple victims were transported a hospital, ac...

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  • Police: Suspect accused of fatally stabbing 2 men was drunk

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    Sunday, March 18 2018 10:49 PM EDT2018-03-19 02:49:15 GMT
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ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) - Two men were fatally stabbed at a Salvation Army apartment building in Minnesota, and police arrested a suspect who tried to leave through a rear stairway.

The stabbings were reported around 7:15 p.m. Saturday at Castleview Apartments in Rochester, a 32-unit building that provides shelter for the homeless, disabled, those in poverty or who have mental health issues.

Rochester police Capt. John Sherwin told the Post Bulletin newspaper the suspect was "definitely under the influence of alcohol" when he allegedly stabbed the two men on the fourth floor of the building. The 53-year-old man was arrested shortly after the stabbings as he tried to leave the building through a rear stairway and was being held Sunday on two tentative counts of second-degree murder.

Police said the men who were stabbed and the suspect all lived at the apartments.

Authorities still were trying to piece together the circumstances that led to the stabbings, but Sherwin said the suspect reportedly had "bickered" with the victims "quite a bit." The suspect was combative with arresting officers and would not tell investigators what happened after he was arrested, Sherwin said.

The victims were identified as 57-year-old Phillip William Hicks and 45-year-old Eric Alan Flemming. Both men were stabbed in the chest and upper abdomen, Sherwin said. Police said in a news release that officers found the two men "suffering from critical stab wounds." They were later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Rochester, a city of around 114,000 people, is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Minneapolis.

Anne Bashaw-Meyer, Salvation Army's director of development and community engagement, told the Post Bulletin that she was "shocked" and "saddened" to hear about the stabbings but would not answer media questions while the police investigation continues.

"This was a terrible tragedy and it is being investigated," the Salvation Army said in a statement.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Rochester, Minnesota, has around 114,000 residents, not 209,000.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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