Reno Police say Murder Suspect was Upset
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Updated: 1:04 PM Jan 13, 2009
Reno Police say Murder Suspect was Upset
A man accused of fatally stabbing another man outside a Reno sports bar was upset over the foreclosure of his home and the loss of the college football team he had bet on in the BCS championship game, police said.
Posted: 9:24 AM Jan 13, 2009
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RENO, Nev. (AP) - A man accused of fatally stabbing another man outside a Reno sports bar was upset over the foreclosure of his home and the loss of the college football team he had bet on in the BCS championship game, police said.

Dante Michael Vinci was arraigned via a video hookup from the Washoe County jail Tuesday on suspicion of murder for the killing of Kevin Daniel O'Connell. Vinci's preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 27 in Reno Justice Court

O'Connell, 44, was stabbed Thursday night outside Bully's Sports Bar and Grill in northwest Reno.

In a court affidavit, police said the two men had a confrontation inside the business when O'Connell reportedly told Vinci he was being obnoxious while watching the championship game between the universities of Florida and Oklahoma.

Officers said a bar patron captured the exchange on video using her digital camera, and also the stabbing when the altercation continued outside in the parking lot.

O'Connell was a bartender at another Bully's sports bar in Sparks.

After the stabbing, police said Vinci, 48, called an off-duty detective he knows and told him, "I stabbed a guy."

According to the documents, Vinci took three firearms to his ex-wife's home soon after the stabbing, and told her he was defending himself in a fight after she noticed blood on his shirt. She told police Vinci had been depressed because he was losing his home to foreclosure and had been unable to spend more time with his teenage children.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


Latest Comments

Posted by: manny Location: reno on Jan 21, 2009 at 12:42 PM

I cant talk to you while you're in jail. we've been friends for a long time. I told you you this would happen sooner or later and you didn't listen. Keep the faith bro. and go Bucs!!!!
Posted by: me on Jan 14, 2009 at 11:52 PM

I think he should get death even though Oconnell was no angel he did not deserve to die
Posted by: Anonymous Location: reno on Jan 13, 2009 at 07:48 PM

I dont care how upset you get, there is no excuse to take someone's life. so what you lost your house and u lost a bet on the football game, seeing how you lost your home, you should have kept the money you blew on the football game duh! well you wont have to worry about it any longer. You have got to be the silliest person i have ever read about, no i take that back the second O.J Simpson is the first. you will have plenty of time to think about how you devastated two families. Your a jerk.
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