Yankee Doodles Stabbing Probe Continues

Long Beach police said Monday that the stabbing of a 24-year-old man outside Yankee Doodles sports bar last week was a bar fight being investigated as a gang-related crime for which detectives were still following leads.

As to why the stabbing was not released to the press the same day it happened but on Friday afternoon, Long Beach Sgt. Rico Fernandez explained Monday:  "This incident did not rise to the level of a news release which is why it was not publicized immediately thereafter." 

Just before 2 a.m. closing time Wednesday morning at the 4100 E. Ocean Boulevard bar, an argument spilled outside, turned physical and resulted in one man stabbing another with a knife. The stabbing victim's name was not released but he remained hospitalized  Monday, Fernandez confirmed.

The suspect was not described. Neither he nor the victim are from Belmont Shore, Fernandez said. 

Fernandez  said Friday that police have not been called this year to Yankee Doodles on any alcohol and drug-related violence. A Belmont Shore man was shot and killed by another Belmont Shore man in 2008 after the pair got into an argument  inside Yankee Doodles not long before closing time. The Press Telegram reported that jury selection for the murder trial of Sunghoon Park, 38, undergoes jury selection Thursday.

Anyone with information on the stabbing may call the LBPD Gang Detail at 562-570-7370.