RICHMOND (KRON) — A 50-year-old Richmond man is behind bars, accused in the fatal stabbing of an Afghanistan war veteran, police announced on Wednesday.
Investigators say officers arrested Mark Nelson around 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Sea Horse Motel on Cutting Blvd., on a warrant for the killing of 45-year-old Lakota Brightman of Richmond.
Police say on Friday night officers responded to a report of a stabbing outside a market in the 1400 block of Carlson Boulevard.
The suspect had left the scene and police say the victim was transported to a hospital, where he died.
Brightman and Nelson had gotten into an argument and Nelson allegedly stabbed Brightman once in the upper left side of his chest, according to Richmond police Sgt. Nicole Abetkov.
An officer reviewing video surveillance footage of the stabbing recognized Nelson from prior interactions with the suspect, according to police.
Brightman served in the U.S. Army as a field medic and had been homeless for more than a year before his death, according to his brother Quanah Brightman.
The army veteran was also the the son of an activist with the United Native Americans, Inc., an American Indians advocacy group that formed in San Francisco in 1968, according to the group’s website.
Lakota Brightman is survived by two daughters, ages 23 and 13, according to his brother.