LAWRENCE — Police arrested a local man for stabbing another patron at the Federation Hispanic of Sports at 505 Broadway early yesterday.
Rafael Diaz, 37, of 61 Arlington St., Lawrence was charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and assault to murder in connection with the incident that occurred shortly after midnight inside the crowded social club.
Police initially responded to a report of shots being fired inside the club. By the time officers arrived, management had broken up the fight and ejected the two men who were fighting.
Lawrence police Chief John Romero said police decided to close down the club for the night. There were several hundred people inside at the time.
Police later discovered that Javier Laboy, 31, of 178 West St., Lawrence, was being treated for stab wounds to his upper torso and face at Lawrence General Hospital. He gave police a description that matched one of a man with a bloody golf shirt who Detective Lt. Mary Bartlett noticed walking away from the club.
When police went to the suspect's apartment, a man wearing a blood-soaked yellow shirt with a lump on his forehead answered the door wielding a blue box cutter knife in his hand, according to Detective John J. Heggarty.
The man, Diaz, told police he was at the bar with his wife and went up to get two more drinks. A fight broke out when he came back and found another man sitting in his seat.
Heggarty said Diaz admitted to using the blue box cutter police found on him to stab Laboy.
The social club already faces a fine and possible enforcement action against its liquor license pending the outcome of a hearing on another incident.
In March, police, joined by agents of the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, seized seven electronic poker machines from the social club as part of a probe into illegal gambling.
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