Emanuel Pennington, OC Homicide No. 28: Stabbed in Street Outside Family Party

​Garden Grove police officers were on their way to the 8200 block of Acacia near Fern Street, where reports had come in of three or four people fighting in the street just after midnight, when a dispatcher informed over the radio that someone in the middle of the altercation had been stabbed.

Cops arrived to find 23-year-old Emanuel Pennington of Garden Grove lifeless on the sidewalk.

Paramedics later confirmed Pennington was dead.

A second man was also stabbed: Jairo Gaona, 28, also of Garden Grove. He was reported in stable condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

Detectives were told a family party was going on near the scene of the stabbings. An argument broke out, and it was punctuated by the stabbings of Pennington and Gaona with an unknown sharp object. While investigators do not have a murder weapon, they do have a murder suspect, who they declined to identify as the probe continues.

Police say some involved in the fight likely have gang ties, but they do not believe the incident is related to a gang rivalry. Anyone with more information is asked to call the Garden Grove Police Department at 714.741.5800.