HOUSTON – A fight over food ended in a deadly stabbing at a west Houston apartment complex Friday.
Reinaldo Rivera, 38, is behind bars charged with murder.
Longtime resident John McDonald heard the police sirens and saw the patrol car lights flashing, but had no idea what all the commotion was about.
"It's a shame," McDonald said. "It really is."
Police said Rivera and four other men were fixing dinner and drinking in an apartment at 1445 Lakeside Estates. Officials said Rivera got angry when Darwin Gonzalez, 34, took the last piece of chicken. The two men began arguing and the argument spilled out into the parking lot where fists started flying.
Investigators said at some point, Rivera stabbed Gonzalez with a knife and fled.
"I just felt that a human life taken over a piece of chicken is ridiculous," McDonald said.
Rivera was hurt in the fight. Police said he later returned to the apartment complex and admitted to officers that he stabbed Gonzalez, who died at the scene.
"The whole thing is senseless and I think we need a bigger security force over in these apartments. This complex is too big to have one or two (security) people walking around," resident Elton Mathews said.