Co-workers and customers mourned a Venice restaurant employee who died at a hospital Monday morning after the man was found stabbed in a street.
The stabbing was reported just after midnight. Patrol officers were flagged down by people who found the victim -- identified by co-workers as 24-year-old Guillermo Perez -- near Pacific Avenue and Washington Boulevard. Co-workers told NBC4 the victim is a husband and father.
The victim worked in the kitchens of several nearby restaurants, according to police. He suffered stab wounds to the chest, said Los Angeles Police Department Lt. John Radtke.
A co-worker told NBC4 the victim finished his shift about 20 minutes before the stabbing report.
Authorities are looking for surveillance video from cameras in the neighborhood, located about two blocks east of the Venice Boardwalk. A man who identified himself as a co-worker of the victim said they worked together at a restaurant about a block from where the body was discovered.
A donation box was placed in front of Mercede's Grill. A framed pictured of Perez was placed next to a small chalk board with the message, "In Loving Memory."
Investigators asked that anyone with information call detectives at 213-382-9470.
"We need people to talk about this," said Radtke.
Authorities are attempting to determine whether there is a connection between the stabbing and a report of a man with a sledgehammer. That report was received from the same neighborhood about 15 minutes before the stabbing.
