Officials May Have Suspect in Stabbing

A brawl that escalated into a fatal stabbing outside one of West Hollywood’s most famous nightclubs remained under investigation Thursday by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department detectives.

The melee started about 10 p.m. Wednesday in the parking lot of the House of Blues, in the 8400 block of Sunset Boulevard, said sheriff’s homicide Lt. Joe Hartshorne. One man died and two others were seriously injured.

Coroner’s officials identified the dead man as Christian Melgroza, 21. The other two victims, whose names were withheld by authorities, were treated for beating and stab wounds.

Investigators said the attack occurred after a fight broke out between two patrons who were ejected from the club, where the British punk-rockabilly band the Meteors was scheduled to perform.

Neighbors described a chaotic scene in which groups of men were brawling in the nightclub’s parking lot. Residents said they heard at least one gunshot.

One nearby resident, who asked not to be identified because she feared for her safety, said she was walking outside her apartment Thursday morning when she found a bloody 4-inch knife near the crime scene.

“It was silver with a black inlay and had a clip on it,” she said. “It was standing in ivy and dirt near a fence, it had blood all over it and both blades were inside.” She immediately notified sheriff’s authorities, who are treating it as potential evidence. Hartshorne said investigators believed they had identified a potential suspect, but the investigation was continuing. He said sheriff’s investigators have interviewed dozens of people to determine “who’s who in this altercation.”

Although stabbings and shootings are relatively rare on West Hollywood’s busy club circuit, they are not unheard of.

In February 2004, a House of Blues security guard was stabbed in the neck by three men who tried to push their way into the club. Charges against the men were thrown out by a judge, who said that neither the victim nor witnesses could identify who carried out the stabbing.

A year earlier, a man who was kicked out of the Rainbow Bar & Grill returned with a gun and shot two men, including a former guitarist with the rock band Kiss, authorities said.

The gunman, John Kale Phillips, later pleaded no contest to two felony counts, including assault with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 10 years in state prison.