A 19-year-old has been accused in the fatal stabbing of a homeless man in a Beverly Hills alley, with video from the scene capturing the suspect making startling remarks to officers moments after the confrontation.
Conoray Lawantara, 19, was arrested on suspicion of murder following a late-night altercation Sunday in an alley along the 400 block of North Palm Drive in Beverly Hills. The location sits behind an apartment building where neighbors said Lawantara lives with his girlfriend.
According to the Beverly Hills Police Department, officers were called around 11:39 p.m. after receiving a report of a fight between two men in the alley. When police arrived, they found Lawantara and an unidentified homeless man who had suffered a severe stab wound to the neck, authorities said.
The injured man was given emergency treatment at the scene before being transported to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Lawantara was also taken to a hospital for injuries he sustained during the incident and remains there, police said.
Neighbors told reporters the homeless man had been going through trash cans in the alley when Lawantara confronted him, leading to a violent encounter in which the man was allegedly stabbed multiple times.
Multiple videos recorded at the Beverly Hills crime scene appear to show the immediate aftermath of the deadly stabbing, including both the suspect and the victim shortly after the incident unfolded.
In the footage, Lawantara can be seen seated on the pavement in handcuffs while speaking with police about what he says happened during the altercation.
“He reached for me and at that time I produced a CCW [concealed carry weapon] — it’s a 3.9 inch knife,” Lawantara is heard telling officers. “I went for him because he was pulling at me.”
Lawantara said he told the man to let go, but he refused, according to the clip.
“He kept pulling at me,” Lawantara can be heard saying.
In another clip, the teen tells investigators that he tried to push the man off of him.
“He kept going after me,” Lawantara is heard saying. “I tried going away.”
Another video showed the chilling scene just seconds after the alleged attack, with homeless man lying in the alley as he moans in agony.
The alleyway behind North Palm Drive is often visited by homeless people, locals residents said, but they don’t usually cause trouble.
Neighbors told The California Post that Lawantara and his girlfriend had just moved into the upscale area a few weeks ago.
The violence rocked the upscale neighborhood where homes go for $2 million or more, with neighbors describing a gory scene out of a crime show in the aftermath of the killing, with “pools of blood all around.”
“The police were trying to revive this poor man that was lying there with blood, like it was in CSI,” one neighbor said.
The Beverly Hills Police Department is still investigating.
