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Salesman stabbed to death at Cerritos car dealership (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/12578974.htm)

Wed, Sep. 07, 2005

Associated Press

CERRITOS, Calif. - A "well dressed" man entered a Chevrolet dealership and stabbed a salesman to death after his request to test drive a Corvette was denied, sheriff's officials said.

Melchor Macaso, 35, was booked late Tuesday at the Inmate Reception Center in downtown Los Angeles on a felony murder count, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Web site. He was being held on $1 million bail.

The incident occurred shortly before 7 p.m. in a rear sales office at S&J Chevrolet, said Sgt. Vanette Christensen, a sheriff's department spokeswoman. The salesman refused to let the customer test drive the car because the man did not have proper identification, she said.

"He began acting violently and produced a large butcher knife" with which he stabbed the salesman several times in the upper body, Christensen said.

The suspect then walked outside and paced back and forth for a brief time, she said.

"There were several brave other employees who tackled him and held him until deputies arrived," Christensen said.

The victim was taken to a local hospital but died, said Lt. Robert Guilbault of the sheriff's station in Cerritos, a city of 51,000 people 26 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Christensen said sheriff's officials were not yet releasing the identity of the victim, who she described as a man in his 30s.

They also didn't have a motive for the crime, she said.

Tuesday's killing was the second at a Southern California car dealership in the past month.

On Aug. 8, a man who was unhappy with his girlfriend's car purchase allegedly shot and killed two people at a dealership in Colton, Calif. about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. Later that day, the suspect allegedly shot and killed a 16-year-old boy before police shot and arrested him.