Jerry Chan, 42

Jerry Chan, a 42-year-old man of Chinese descent, was pronounced dead on Wednesday, Sept. 12, after he was stabbed in the 2600 block of East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner records. 

Chan and a male friend were outside the Colorado Bar, 2640 East Colorado Boulevard, about 1:30 a.m., when a man walked up to Chan and stabbed him in the chest, said Lt. Jesse Carrillo of the Pasadena Police Department.  

Chan's friend rushed the attacker, who stabbed him in the thigh, Carrillo said. The friend was able to wrestle the attacker to the ground and sit on him, Carrillo said. 

The weapon, a large kitchen knife, appeared to be wedged in the friend's thigh, so the attacker wasn't able to pull it out, Carrillo said. As the two men struggled, another man who was driving by saw the fight, parked and called 911 before he jumped out of the car to help the friend hold the attacker down until the police arrived, Carrillo said.

Both Chan and the friend were taken to a nearby hospital. The friend survived his injury but Chan was pronounced dead at 2:48 a.m., according to coroner's records. The cause of death was listed as a sharp force injury to the torso. 

A few hours earlier, the attacker got into a verbal disagreement with Chan inside the bar, witnesses told investigators. Chan didn't know the man, Carrillo said, and walked away to defuse the situation. 

Investigators learned the man, identified as Jose Antonio Santiago, 66, left the bar and walked across the street to a Denny's restaurant, where he allegedly asked if someone would give him a kitchen knife, Carrillo said. 

When the restaurant employees refused, he allegedly walked a few more blocks to a Von's supermarket and bought a large kitchen knife before returning to the bar, Carrillo said. 

Chan was an apartment manager who lived just a block from the bar with his infant daughter, toddler stepson and their mother, Jordan Seider, authorities said. Seider said Chan often visited friends at the bar in the late evening, after she and their children went to bed.

Santiago lived near the bar and had been there before, but investigators don't know what prompted the attack, Carrillo said. 

Santiago, a resident of Pasadena, was arrested and booked into jail that morning. He was charged with murder and attempted murder on Sept. 14 and pleaded not guilty on Oct. 15. His next court hearing is set for June 3, followed by a preliminary hearing on June 4 in the Los Angeles County Superior Court's Pasadena Courthouse. 

Anyone with information on the matter is asked to call the Pasadena Police Department at (626) 744-4241. Those wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477. 

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