Tips Lead To Denver 7-Eleven Stabbing Suspect Arrest

DENVER, CO -- Denver police said a man has been arrested in connection with a fatal stabbing of a clerk at a Denver 7-Eleven on March 15. Luis Antonio Perez, 33, is being held facing charges of first degree murder in the death of Derek Sorenson, 29. He was arrested March 20, police said.

Perez had confronted Sorenson the previous evening in the vestibule next to the 7-Eleven entrance in the 600 block of 17th Street, a block from the 16th Street Mall, an arrest affidavit said.

Surveillance video from a nearby building showed a man waiting across the street for Sorenson to leave the convenience store, then running across the street and the two men struggling, the affidavit said.

Police last week released surveillance video images of the man wanted in connection with the stabbings.

Sorenson's fellow employee called police about 11:40 p.m. last Thursday saying his co-worker had been stabbed in the parking lot. Police found Sorenson in the convenience store bleeding from several stab wounds. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead around midnight, Perez's arrest affidavit said.

After police released images from the surveillance video a woman called the Crime Stoppers tip line and said that she recognized the man in the video and that he had approached a friend of hers, age 17, who worked at a fast food restaurant in Commerce City and asked to be friends on social media, the affidavit said. Perez was also recognized when he walked into a bankruptcy court last week. Police also interviewed a friend of Perez who said he confronted Perez about the stabbing after recognizing him from the surveillance video on television. The friend told police Perez had been angered by Sorenson, who, he said, accused him of stealing from the 7-Eleven.

Perez is being held without bail in the Denver County Detention Center.

On Patch:

Denver 7-Eleven Stabbing Person-Of-Interest Captured On Camera

Image Luis A. Perez via Denver Police Department