Atwater man stabbed during attack on roommate, later arrested

An alcohol-fueled argument between roommates ended early Tuesday in Atwater when one of the men attacked the other with a steak knife, the Police Department reported.

Alfonso Gonzalez, 49, attacked his roommate, but he lost the knife he was holding during the struggle. The roommate then stabbed Gonzalez in the head while defending himself, Sgt. Dick Wisdom told the Sun-Star.

Police said incident was reported around 12:22 a.m. Tuesday at a home in the 1300 block of East Bellevue Road.

The roommate, Cesar Pena, 39, suffered a minor injury to his arm, police said. Exactly what sparked the violence remained unclear. “They’d been drinking most of the day leading up this,” Wisdom said.

The pair got into some type of argument around midnight. Pena walked into a bedroom, possibly to get away from the dispute, and Gonzalez gabbed a knife from the kitchen and walked towards the bedroom, police said.

“A female at the home tried to intervene and (Pena) heard the commotion and came into the hallway where they confronted each other,” Wisdom said.

Pena took the knife from Gonzalez and stabbed him in the head, above the temple. Gonzalez was flown to a regional hospital where he was treated and released, police said.

Gonzalez was booked into the John Latorraca Correctional Facility on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. He remained in custody Tuesday afternoon on $30,000 bail, according to booking records.

This story was originally published February 24, 2015 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Atwater man stabbed during attack on roommate, later arrested."