Suspect held down by witnesses after stabbing at Surprise shopping center

Bystanders help detain stabbing suspect in Surprise

A stabbing at a Surprise shopping center was quelled when bystanders jumped in to help detain the suspect. FOX 10's Lindsey Ragas has the story.

SURPRISE, Ariz. - A man in Surprise was pronounced dead following a stabbing in a shopping center parking lot on Friday, Jan. 18.

Police say it started out as a fight between 29-year-old Logan Metcalf and 33-year-old Daniel Nassar near Reems Road and Grand Avenue.

There were several witnesses who saw the fight, many of them jumped in to break the fight up. Metcalf was pronounced dead the next day.

They also held the suspect down until the police could get there. Nassar has been arrested and booked into jail on second degree murder charges, according to Surprise Police.

Witnesses share what they saw

What they're saying:

"I've actually known him for quite a while," said Ron Fritz.

Fritz works at a counseling center and says he spoke with the suspect twice today before the stabbing.

"He was very depressed and said he had not eaten in several days," said Fritz. "He did not have a home and he did not know how to get back on his feet."

To help the man out, Fritz gave him food.

The backstory:

"I bought him lunch at 1 o'clock. This happened around 2:30," he said.

From the window of his office, Fritz saw the fight break out and immediately called the police.

"It's just strange. You don't expect in the middle of the day something like this to happen," said Marina Portillo.

Portillo owns a business a few doors down from where the fight happened. She recognized the suspect because she said he used to work at a restaurant in the same shopping center.

"He seems very nice, I mean it's just hi and bye," she said.

She says right before the fight, the suspect was pacing up and down the parking lot.

"We heard bunch of commotion and when me and my employees went outside, there was a guy on the ground bleeding out," she said.