The mother of a man stabbed to death in Allentown wept on the witness stand Friday as she described her son’s killing.
Sara Roman testified she saw Jonathan Liriano-Rodriguez push his way into her city apartment off East Hamilton Street on Jan. 26, and make a stabbing motion at her son, Hector Roman-Rodriguez.
“When (Hector) lifted his shirt, he was bleeding a lot,” his mother said through an interpreter. When Roman-Rodriguez’s brother came into the living room, Roman-Rodriguez fell to the floor.
“He was telling his brother not to let him die,” Sara Roman said. The family called for an ambulance twice, but “they just didn’t get there.”
Roman-Rodriguez’s brother picked him up, carried the bleeding man on his shoulder to a car, and headed to Sacred Heart Hospital. Roman-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at the hospital; it is the city’s second homicide of the year.
Man fatally stabbed in the chest during fight, cops say
Liriano-Rodriguez, 30, of the 800 block of North Sherman Street, is charged with one count of homicide. Following Friday’s preliminary hearing, the charge was sent to Lehigh County Court, where he now faces trial.
He is being held without bail in Lehigh County Jail.
Liriano-Rodriguez is the longtime boyfriend of Roman’s daughter, Elizabeth. The couple have three children together, and that day Sara Roman was watching her grandchildren at her home.
Witnesses said earlier in the day, Roman-Rodriguez and Liriano-Rodriguez fought, and that Liriano-Rodriguez suffered a black eye.
The injury, now faint, was still visible on Friday. Prosecutors and defense attorneys declined to say what the fight was about or what led to the attack, and there was no testimony Friday as to a motive behind the stabbing.
Liriano-Rodriguez fled after the alleged attack, and was arrested without incident in the 200 block of South 14th Street by Allentown police, authorities said.
Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
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