• discussions >
• Front Room

Sounds like a 2AMer.

shadowcat

Atlanta suburb

A Chelsea[MA] strip joint that's no stranger to violence was the scene of another bloody attack early today after a Somerville man — kicked out of the club just moments before — was stabbed twice in the neck just steps from the front doorway, police said.

Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes said detectives are on the hunt for a “short, stocky” black male in his 20s who slashed a 33-year-old Somerville man “at least” twice during a fight outside King Arthur's Lounge.

The victim, rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital, was in critical condition following emergency surgery, but is considered stable and is expected to survive, Kyes said.



“It doesn't appear to be random,” Kyes said, adding that police were expected to talk with the victim in the hospital today to determine what prompted the fight.

The victim had been booted from the club and, once outside, ran into the suspect, igniting a verbal altercation that quickly escalated, Kyes said. The suspect then “took off into the night” as police were called, he said.

The Beacham Street club — tucked away from the center of town near the Everett line — was the stage for a brutal shooting spree in January 2008, when authorities said 280-pound “Fat Jesse” Camacho unleashed a hail of bullets, killing 28-year-old Jeffrey Santiago as he lay face down on the floor.

Camacho, who also injured two others during the bullet-laden barroom brawl, was sentenced in 2010 to life in prison without parole, but only after authorities tracked him down in Mexico and convinced the Spanish government to turn over a key witness in the case, who had fled to Spain after his arrest on drug trafficking charges.

Police were also called to the club in December for an alleged dancer-on-dancer attack. Eva Jimenez, 30, is due back in court later this month on charges she slashed a 21-year-old co-worker in the face with a box-cutter when she accused Jimenez of stealing money from her, costing Jimenez her job, according to the Suffolk District Attorney's Office.

Asked if police consider the club a “problem place,” Kyes said “it's a fair question.”

A man who answered the phone at the club this afternoon said neither the owner or the manager were available, and directed a reporter to police for information on the latest incident.

“That is something on the street over there,” he said before hanging up without identifying himself.