Tarpon Springs police officers were dispatched to a stabbing on Wednesday, July 24, 2019, at approximately 11:45 p.m. The incident occurred at 103 E. Park St. in reference to an assault/battery complaint.
Officers discovered an adult male victim suffering from multiple stab wounds to the upper body. The victim was transported to Bayonet Point Hospital and is presently listed in critical condition.
As a result of the investigation by detectives, 45 year-old Rafael Otero III of Loveland, Colorado was taken into custody and charged with one count of attempted murder and resisting an officer without violence.
Otero was located at the scene by responding patrol officers and resisted their attempts to take him into custody hence the resisting charge.
The investigation showed that Otero was once a resident of Tarpon Springs and had moved to Colorado. He was in town visiting family members who still reside here. The victim and Otero were in the company of the same people at the incident location. The victim and suspect are not related and were not acquainted in any way prior to this incident. Otero and the victim became involved in a verbal altercation, over what Otero advised was being insulted by the victim. Sometime during the verbal altercation, Otero armed himself with a kitchen type knife and eventually stabbed the victim multiple times in the upper body.
Otero was transported to the Pinellas County Jail.