Pompano Beach man fatally stabbed victim after ‘arguing over crack,’ deputies say

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — A newly-obtained arrest report shows what deputies said led up to a deadly stabbing in Pompano Beach on Tuesday.

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According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, deputies responding to the 2500 block of East Atlantic Boulevard found the victim suffering from multiple stab wounds and rescue crews rushed him to Broward Health North Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.

Investigators spoke to a witness who said she was waiting at a bus stop when the victim ― who has not been publicly identified ― and suspect David Edward Rice got into an argument.

The witness told deputies the men “were arguing over crack” before Rice, 67, began to stab the unarmed victim.

Deputies said the witness further explained that Rice attempted to leave the scene, but first he gave the knife to another man who tried to board a bus, but the witness said she told the bus driver what happened so the man wouldn’t be allowed to board.

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The second man was initially detained by deputies.

Soon after, authorities said a 911 call was received stating that the suspect in the stabbing was at a nearby Publix, located at 2500 E. Atlantic Blvd., with a bloody hand.

Deputies responded to the Publix and detained Rice, while investigators viewed surveillance footage of a parking garage managed by Publix that they said showed Rice walking along the same path that investigators noticed a trail of blood, leading from one end of the garage to the other, then across the street into the Publix.

Authorities said that during questioning, “Rice provided inconsistencies on his timeline and whereabouts leading up to the incident and leading up to his apprehension” while he also “contradicted his own actions which were captured on Publix surveillance cameras.”

According to the report, he claimed he was at the Publix “to buy strawberries.”

As of Monday afternoon, Rice was being held at the Broward Main Jail on charges of first-degree premeditated murder and armed trespassing of a structure of conveyance on no bond.

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