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Man stabbed to death at London, Ont. Christmas party

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Killed during a Christmas party, London’s fourth homicide victim of 2016 is being remembered as a hockey-loving family man who was pursuing his dream job.

Chad Robinson, a 26-year-old apprentice from Guelph, was visiting London over the weekend for the party at the Imperio Banquet Hall.

But what was supposed to be a night of holiday celebration with co-workers at his plumbing company turned deadly when Robinson was stabbed during a fight.

Four other men are facing charges of assault on a second victim.

Robinson’s grieving family is struggling to make sense of how the popular man met such a violent end.

Older brother Sean Robinson recalls his sibling as a hard worker who was on the road to becoming a licensed plumber.

“He really found a job that he loved,” the elder Robinson said Monday. “He had no quit.”

For the past two years, Robinson had worked at PTP Plumbing in Guelph, where he grew up and lived with his parents.

Police called to the Falcon Street banquet hall shortly after midnight Sunday found Robinson, who was suffering from an apparent stab wound, in the parking lot without vital signs. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Seven men were arrested at the scene.

Monday, police charged four of them with assault causing bodily harm, a charge laid for an attack on a second victim, whose injuries aren’t life-threatening.

The four charged London men are Miguel Chacon-Perez, 27, Irvin Aparicio Chicas, 26, Samuel Aparicio, 25, and Octavio Merino, 25.

“They’re currently in custody,” said Const. Sandasha Bough, adding no charges had been laid in the homicide.

The other three men were released without charges, said Bough, who wouldn’t reveal whether a weapon had been retrieved.

“At this time that’s an investigative detail that we won’t be releasing,” she said.

Sean Robinson said the last time he saw his brother was a week earlier for his sibling’s 26th birthday.

An avid hockey player and follower of the sport, Robinson was a died-hard Boston Bruins fan.

“I think secretly my dad tried to get us all to like Boston,” said Sean.

The grieving family is making funeral arrangements, but no date has been set.


A police officer gets into his cruiser outside of the Imperio Banquet Hall, the scene of a fatal weekend stabbing, on Falcon Street in London, on Monday. (CRAIG GLOVER, The London Free Press)

The Imperio Banquet Hall is located in the middle of an industrial area just southwest of Trafalgar Street and Clarke Road.

The single-storey building, which also houses a roofing company, is owned by Sandra and Nelson Vieira, according to city tax records.

Calls to the venue weren’t returned Monday, and no one could be found there.

Investigators remained at the scene. Two cruisers were parked outside the building Monday. Yellow police tape cordoned off an area near the entrance and a section of the parking lot.

“We’re still appealing to the public for additional information,” Bough said.

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

twitter.com/DaleatLFPress

OTHER LONDON HOMICIDES IN 2016

  • A woman was found dead inside her Grand Avenue apartment on Feb. 13. Police also found the body of a man inside a nearby auto repair shop. Investigators ruled the case a domestic-related murder-suicide and refused to release the names of the woman, who was the victim, and the man.
  • Dakoda Marcus Martin, 21, was hanging out in Victoria Park with friends on May 28 when he and another man were stabbed. A private security guard detained a suspect nearby. Jeremy Reddick, 32, is charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault.
  • Popular entrepreneur and yoga instructor Nathan Deslippe, 27, was found dead inside his Colborne Street apartment on Aug. 28. His roommate, William Joles, 27, was arrested at the scene and charged with second-degree murder.
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