I first noticed the ambulances responding to the scene. The scene was practically between me and my destination so I crossed the street to investigate. I noticed the EMT's tending to a man lying in the grass; his left leg was propped up on the foot high fence made of black chain. The victim appeared to be homeless. Another man was softly pleading with the EMT's saying "He's my brother."

I did not notice any blood and the guy was just lying there moving little if any. He appeared to have fallen; it looked similar to an overdose which isn't too common a scene but a scene that isn't unfamiliar. I kept walking to my destination unaware and hence uncaring that he was an assault victim who twenty minute later would be a murder victim.


Wild fatal knifing shocks Hub tourists from the Boston Herald

The city’s season of violence reached into the heart of Boston’s tourism mecca today when a homeless man was stabbed to death just steps from Faneuil Hall, as sun-drenched tourists and downtown workers walked by.

The man, who is in his 40s, was knifed in the back at 4 p.m. in a small park at Congress and North streets, just feet from the gleaming Holocaust Memorial. His name was not released.

"He stuck a shiv in his back. Blood was pouring out of his back,” said Michael Lindsey, 23, who was in Boston sightseeing when he witnessed the brutal assault near two well-known statues of former Boston Mayor James Michael Curley.

Yellow police tape stretched around the park as workers streamed out of their offices, confused tourists walked by and Duck Tour amphibious vehicles chugged past filled with kids.

Leann Thomson, clutching a map of Boston, came upon the hectic scene just minutes after the stabbing. She was in town from Vermont with her 12-year-old son, Ben, to see the six-towered Holocaust Memorial.

This is not something you want to see when you come visit,” she said.

Lindsey, visiting from Salem, said about six homeless people were sitting on benches when a man dragged another man over a park bench, onto the ground and knifed him with a homemade weapon. One other person familiar with the victim said he was homeless.

Lindsey said the suspect fled wearing khaki pants and a white tank top and returned 15 minutes later in jeans, a black T-shirt and hat and was promptly arrested. Moments later a woman who knew the suspect had to be pulled away by police as she screamed obscenities at another witness. The suspect’s name was not immediately released by police.