MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. (Reuters)
: A raunchy karaoke
performance at a saloon
in east-central Florida sparked a
barroom brawl in which one person was fatally stabbed and
another was injured, police said Thursday.
The dispute began when a patron at the Smokehouse Saloon in
Merritt Island performed an obscene karaoke version of a Guns
'N' Roses song, "Welcome to the Jungle," Brevard County
sheriff's agents said.
"He was substituting some vulgar language and some people got
upset," Sheriff's Agent Lucille Ross said.
Several patrons, the karaoke operator, the
bar owner and the bar
owner's girlfriend objected and asked the singer and his group
of friends to move along. The singers' friends exchanged harsh
words with the complaining group and a melee erupted and spilled
out into the parking lot.
"Everybody got into it and it ended up in a big brawl," Ross
said.
Two men who were with the karaoke singer were stabbed. One of
them, 19-year-old Kevin Arthur Nowak, was killed and the other
remained in a hospital with stab wounds to the
stomach. A
suspect, Rene Echevarria, 43, was arrested on murder and
aggravated assault charges. During a bond hearing he denied
stabbing anyone, but was ordered held without bail.
