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Homeboy Industries Employee Stabbed To Death In Backyard
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A Homeboy Industries Inc. employee was stabbed to death in a backyard fight earlier this week.
Gonzalo Robles, 38, died of his stab wounds in the backyard of the home where he was staying in Covina this Thursday, according to City News Service. Louis Alberto Villaneda, 32, was arrested on suspicion of homicide, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
The Tribune reports that Robles was staying with a friend, 68-year-old Geoffrey Brooks, while he saved up money for his own place. He was an employee of Homeboy Industries, which helps ex-gang members looking for a job and hoping to turn their lives around. Robles was known as "Magoo," and he was a father who had another child on the way.
On Thursday afternoon, Villaneda came over to help Brooks and Robles with some chores around Brooks' Covina home. Police said Robles and Villaneda got into a dispute about "respect" that ended with a fight just before 2 pm. Villaneda allegedly came after Robles with a knife and began stabbing him. Robles grabbed a knife and stabbed Villaneda in self-defense, but it was too late for Robles. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
"It shouldn't have come to that," Brooks told the Tribune. "(Robles) was a good guy."
Villaneda fled the scene, but police located him several hours later still bleeding from his wounds. He was hospitalized and later arrested on suspicion of homicide. He's expected to be arraigned in West Covina on Wednesday.
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