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Suspect in Avon stabbing still at large

Steve Lynn
Vail, CO Colorado
Special to the DailyHarold Agustin Kasaka
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AVON, Colorado ” Avon police were still looking Tuesday afternoon for an Avon man accused of stabbing a 38-year-old man in the chest.

Harold Agustin Kasaka, 36, of Avon, allegedly stabbed Victor Manuel Rios twice with a hunting knife shortly before midnight outside an apartment at Liftview Condominiums.

Wearing a blood-soaked shirt and holding a cell phone, Rios was found lying on the sidewalk outside the condominium building, according to an Avon police report.



Rios was taken to the Vail Valley Medical Center, from which he was later released.

“Luckily it didn’t hit any type of vital organs,” Avon police Chief Brian Kozak said.

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A few hours earlier, Kasaka had been losing in a card game and some of the men at the apartment were making fun of him. Kasaka left and returned to the apartment with his cousin, who was not charged in the incident, authorities said.

As Kasaka was walking inside, three witnesses saw him bump Rios with the door to the apartment and Kasaka began arguing with Rios, the report says.

The witnesses said Rios told Kasaka the men should go outside to talk, the report says.

Rios said Kasaka insulted him and the men started punching each other outside the apartment, the report says.

The witnesses said Rios told Kasaka the men should go outside to talk, the report says.

Outside the apartment, the witnesses saw Rios holding Kasaka’s hand, in which the latter was holding a six-inch-long knife, the report says. Raul Funez-Nieto tried to pull the knife out of Kasaka’s hand and got a three-inch-long cut on his hand, the report says.

Rios was stabbed during the struggle for the knife, the report says.

Blood was found in front of the apartment’s door, leading up to the stairs and outside. The knife was not found.

Kasaka is described as Hispanic with short brown hair; 5-feet-5-inches tall; 165 pounds and thin. Kasaka was wearing a red shirt with jeans at when he left the scene of the stabbing, the report says.

Kasaka is wanted on a charge of felony first-degree assault, Avon police Detective Paul Arnold said. If caught, Kasaka will be held without bond, police said.

Police did not release information about the stabbing Saturday night because they did not want the suspect to know that police were looking for him, Kozak said.

“We didn’t want it in the paper until we had a chance to search for the suspect and apprehend him,” Kozak said.

Staff Writer Steve Lynn can be reached at 748-2931 or slynn@vaildaily.com.


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