Stamford man stabbed to death wanted to return to Guatemala Police seek assailants who attacked victim in center of city during a busy evening

McDonald's at the intersection of Bedford and Broad Streets in Stamford, Conn., where Antonio Muralles was murdered after he was stabbed, beaten and robbed Wednesday night. McDonald's at the intersection of Bedford and Broad Streets in Stamford, Conn., where Antonio Muralles was murdered after he was stabbed, beaten and robbed Wednesday night. Photo: Lindsay Perry Buy photo Photo: Lindsay Perry Image 1 of / 50 Caption Close Stamford man stabbed to death wanted to return to Guatemala 1 / 50 Back to Gallery

STAMFORD -- Friends and family remembered Antonio Muralles Thursday as a gentle man who walked everywhere, worked hard and dreamed of returning to his home in Guatemala so he could look after his ailing 92-year-old father.

But Muralles' dreams, along with his life, came to a violent end Wednesday evening while he was walking downtown on Bedford Street. Shortly after 8 p.m. as he approached Broad Street, Muralles, 52, was attacked by three to five males -- a female may have also been involved -- who at first slapped him and beat him with a stick, police said. Authorities described the men as Hispanic or black. Someone in the group then pulled out a knife and stabbed Muralles several times, and one stab sliced through a ventricle in Muralles' heart, police said.

Medics in a Stamford Emergency Medical Services ambulance that happened to be passing by on their way to another emergency call saw Muralles collapse on the sidewalk between Remo's Pizza and McDonald's, and stopped to help. Seeing that Muralles was badly injured, they rushed him to Stamford Hospital, where doctors worked "heroically" to save his life, Police Capt. Richard Conklin said.

Doctors revived Muralles twice, and at one point it seemed he was going to pull through, police said.

"Right after the doctor came down and said it looked like he had a good chance to survive, he coded and his heart stopped," Lt. Diedrich Hohn said. "They did everything they could. They worked on him hard."

No arrests had been made in the case as of Thursday evening. Investigators collected surveillance camera video in the area in hopes of identifying those responsible.

"We believe a lot of people saw this because it is a high visibility area, very well lit and at that time right around 8 p.m. it is pretty well traveled," Hohn said.

Police officers canvassed the area throughout the morning, at one point extending the investigation area to Veterans Park, a block down from the scene of the attack. The stick used to beat Muralles is the type used to mark the edges of streets and driveways for snow plow drivers, police said. It was recovered and will be tested for DNA and fingerprints.

"It looks like it probably started as a robbery," Hohn said. "This is a tragic situation, a random act of violence, senseless."

Muralles' niece, with whom he had been staying, said her uncle was a quiet man and a hard worker. Sitting in the living room of the modest Glenbrook home she shares with her husband, Rosa Olivia, 39, said she had always been close to her uncle, since she was a child growing up in their small village of El Carrizal in San Pedro Ayampuc, Guatemala.

"For me it is very hard," she said in Spanish, with her friend Otto Palma acting as an interpreter. "When I was a child Uncle Antonio used to come to my house and play with us. He was so nice to us and he would buy candy for us and he never got married so he always was close to us. He was my favorite uncle."

She said Muralles lived with her and her husband for the past year and worked in a small factory in Norwalk.

"He loved music, played the guitar and loved to sing. He was a happy guy. He never hurt nobody and was one of those guys that never looked for trouble," she said.

She said Muralles' wish was to return to Guatemala. "He wanted to make a little more money. He wished to go back home, but wanted to make a little more money and go home and care for his father," she said.

Palma, 52, said he had known Muralles for the past 18 years. "He was a good guy. He was a good guy," he said, shaking his head as he stood next to his pickup truck outside Olivia's home, shaking his head.

"He used to work every day," Palma said. "He never had an idea to buy a car. He was happy to walk. He used to say, `I feel good when I'm walking.' He was the kind of guy that wasn't looking for a lot of money. He didn't have that much ambition."

Olivia said police told her about 10 p.m. that her uncle had been stabbed. She and her husband went to the hospital and were told that he had lost a lot of blood. She said doctors told her that his heart had almost been destroyed and if he survived he would never be the same.

Palma said, "It's sad because Stamford used to be a safe town. ... It's a shame. We are supposed to take care of one another."

The downtown has recently been the backdrop for a number of violent crimes that included a vicious stabbing three weeks ago at Veterans Park. The victim in that attack survived after surgery to remove the serrated knife blade from his back. No arrests have been made in that case yet.

"There is a loose-knit group of kids, I would say between the ages of 15 and 18, hanging out in the downtown area causing this kind of mayhem," Hohn said. "We are going to be looking at all these kids as suspects."

Muralles' homicide is the first in Stamford this year. The last homicide occurred on Aug. 27, when taxi driver Mahomed Kamal was killed in a brutal fight in his cab on Doolittle Drive. Shota Mekoshvili has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge and is in jail while his case proceeds in the courts.

Standing outside the Ferguson Library Thursday across the street from where Muralles was attacked, Paul Pia, 46, said he couldn't believe a man was killed there previous night.

"I came out of the library last night and I saw all the cops, and me, I don't like to be around a lot of cops so I left. I didn't think it was anything all that serious," he said. "It's horrible. It's horrible. I have lived here my whole life and hear about this. It happened right in the middle of town."

Another man, who would only give his name as William, age 49, said more police officers need to be stationed in the neighborhood.

"I'm so disgusted. Because this is a peaceful neighborhood. I like my library. I like my friends. I hang out here after work. I work hard every day," William said. "They ought to lock those juvenile delinquents up when they come out here. There should be a cop posted here, bottom line."

Ken Atterberry, 49, said he sees juveniles hassling people in the area a lot and doesn't like to stick around after sundown.

"After dark, you see a whole bunch of juveniles hanging around out here. The teens are caught up in their little teen dramas and now they carry around knives and they don't know the consequences of what they are getting into," Atterberry said.

A Remo's Pizza employee who identified himself as Anthony said that for the most part the neighborhood is pretty good, but a lot of kids hang out at the corner.

"Hopefully it will be a wake-up call for the police department to put somebody on the corner here," Anthony said. "There are always homeless people here, and this and that. It's an area where you need an officer here 12 hours per day, to make everything safe so people feel safe."

The owner of the Bedford Street Market convenience store next to McDonald's, Narinder Singh, 53, said he doesn't get enough business there to stay, so he is moving out at the end of the month.

Police asked that anyone who has information about or witnessed the crime call the Stamford Police Detective Bureau at 203-944-4417. All calls will be kept confidential.

jnickerson@scni.com; stamfordadvocate.com/policereports

Singh also said he is worried about the violence downtown. "This is the second time. Three weeks ago there was another stabbing in Veterans Park. Nobody is coming here. I am worried too. I am leaving from here," Singh said.