A request for cigarettes would end in the death of a samurai

Context: Walnut Street in Greenville, Ohio (Google Maps). Inset: Matthew Earl McKnight (Darke County Sheriff’s Department).

A man who became a fixture in an Ohio neighborhood was asking local residents for a cigarette — and ended up being stabbed to death, apparently by a man wielding a weapon similar to a samurai sword.

Matthew Earl McKnight was arrested at the scene Nov. 16 for the alleged murder of Kyle Brown, who remains in custody at the Darke County Jail. Greenville Police Chief Ryan Benge told WHIO, a local CBS affiliate, that “the two know each other.” I am not yet going to comment on past disagreements or what may have led to them.”

According to neighbors of the Walnut Street apartment building, Brown was homeless but well known to residents in the area. Sheila Horne told WHIO that she often “sat with” Brown so he would have a place to go during the day, explaining that he “lived on deck.”

The day Brown was killed, he reportedly asked for a cigarette.

“I didn’t have one, so he went next door and this guy just took some kind of sword, a samurai sword and stabbed him,” Horne said, referring to McKnight. She described her own altercation with McKnight, saying, “(he) once pulled a knife on me because I went to ask for a cigarette one day and I had to run. But he was very mentally ill and he would sit up all night screaming and screaming.

WHIO reported that police arrived and arrested McKnight after he threatened the guest of another tenant in the building. After McKnight’s alleged attack, Brown was airlifted to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton where he was pronounced dead.

Greenville detectives said they are investigating McKnight’s time in the building for evidence of past complaints or incidents.

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