Man Charged In East Somerville Double Stabbing

SOMERVILLE, MA — A Somerville man was charged in a double stabbing at a Broadway restaurant early Saturday.

Around 12:13 a.m. June 29, police responded to an assault which became a stabbing at Fasika Ethiopian Restaurant, according to the police report. Those involved had relocated to a home on Cross Street after following the suspect, who was described as a Hispanic man wearing a blue shirt, police said.

Officers arrived to find several people gathered in the driveway. Witnesses told police the man "stabbed two people," the report stated. Officers went to the backyard to look for the suspect and found him in a side alley.

The suspect, 40-year-old Francisco Santos, refused to comply with officers' commands to get on the ground, police said. Multiple officers restrained Santos on the ground and found a red and silver pocket knife in his left back pocket, according to Santos.

One victim told officers he was sitting at the bar drinking when Santos came over to him, smashed a glass, cut his throat and then tried to stab him in the abdomen. Another victim said he and a crowd chased Santos to the intersection of Broadway and Rush Street, where Santos stabbed him in the left side of his body, leaving a small cut, according to police.

Both victims refused medical treatment. Police charged Santos with assault and battery with a deadly weapon (two counts) and resisting arrest.