A 19-year-old man from Beverly Hills was charged with murder Wednesday in a fatal stabbing in an alley in the city and is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.
Conoray Lawantara is accused of stabbing a man Sunday night in an alley in the 400 block of North Palm Drive, near Beverly Boulevard, according to the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Officers found a man suffering from a neck wound and rendered aid before he was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, police said.
Lawantara was also taken to a hospital, released Wednesday and booked at the Beverly Hills Police Department, police said. Bail was set at $2 million. He is scheduled to be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Airport Branch of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Brigette Barbie, who witnessed the aftermath of the incident, told the Los Angeles Times she believed the victim was homeless.
In a video recorded by Barbie, Lawantara sits with bloody hands handcuffed behind his back and told police that he acted in self-defense, while another man lies on the ground in a pool of blood as officers perform CPR, according to the newspaper.
“I didn’t reach for him first, he reached for me, his hand went to my leg,” Lawantara said in the video, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Lawantara said in the video that the man continued going after him after he pulled out the knife and that he was suffering from a stab wound and a bitten finger, the Los Angeles Times reported. Lawantara can also be heard in the video telling officers that he produced a 3.9-inch knife and that the knife was lying on the ground, according to the newspaper.
Police said the incident is believed to have been isolated and no one else was involved.
Anyone with information about the stabbing was urged to call Beverly Hills Police Department detectives at 310-285-2125.