This is heartbreaking…
and absolutely TERRIFYING.
A father has died after being stabbed in the neck while his five-year-old daughter sat in his lap, allegedly by a homeless man who is said to have attacked him at random during a family dinner.
Anthony Mele, 35, was having dinner with his daughter and his wife in the Aloha Steakhouse in Ventura, California, on Thursday night when homeless suspect Jamal Jackson, 49, came into the restaurant at around 9.20pm.
Someone had called police three hours earlier to report Jackson being disruptive in the area but police did not respond, claiming they did not have the resources at the time.
That’s… horrific.
This could have been prevented.
Instead, they watched him on security cameras from afar but decided not to pursue him when he wandered out of sight because he they did not think he looked menacing, according to KTLA.
I hate this. Seriously WTF.
He has previous convictions but it is not known what those are.
At 9.20pm, he walked into the restaurant and targeted Mele at random. The young father had just finished eating.
It is not known if he had his own knife or if he used one of the restaurant’s to carry out the horrifying attack in front of other diners.
And the whole time, his little girl was right there…
I hope she comes out of this ok. That must have been absolutely traumatic.
Afterwards, Jackson walked back out of the restaurant.
Waiters and others from the restaurant followed him outside and down to the promenade then stayed with him until police arrived to arrest him.
He is now being held in county jail on a $1.5million bond and is charged with premeditated murder.
Horrific.
But… it happened in California. So I wouldn’t be shocked if some dingbat decided it would be “wrong” to charge this guy with murder and bumps his charge down.
It sounds unbelievable, but the guy who murdered Kate Steinle is a free man… so no, it wouldn’t shock me.
Mele’s heartbroken friends and family are now fundraising to pay for his funeral and help support his grieving wife and daughter.
Anthony was a wonderful father to his young daughter, loving husband, son and brother.
My prayers are with that family.
I can’t even imagine.