Florida Promoter Killed In Bar Brawl

Fort Lauderdale, Fla., police are investigating the stabbing death of local promoter and musician Jimmy Pagano during a bar brawl April 17.

Police told the Sun Sentinel that at about 3:30 a.m. Pagano had finished playing a set with his group, Untamed Band, at Fishtales Bar & Grill and had packed up his equipment when customer Brian Edward Krebs pulled a knife and got into a fight with a bartender reportedly because he was upset over his bar tab.

Krebs allegedly stabbed Pagano in the neck when he tried to intervene. Pagano, 54, died at the scene. Two customers and two employees also suffered knife wounds, according to police.

Guy DiBona, who was playing pool at the time, jumped on the suspect and was stabbed in the process but was one of the last to see Pagano alive.

“The guy who got stabbed looked at me and said, ‘Help me,’ and then collapsed right on the floor, right then,” DiBona told the paper. “It was almost like in the movies. It was amazing what I saw today.”

Krebs is charged with first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the paper said.

Video from the Sun Sentinel.