Toronto police have identified the city's first homicide victim of 2011 following a New Year's stabbing in an alley.
Police say that Brian Takahashi, 20, was stabbed near Queen Street West near Portland Street early Saturday. He died in hospital.
Brother Mark Takahashi said that a trivial argument quickly spiraled into a life-changing moment.
When asked how he was handling the loss of his brother, Mark Takahashi replied: "Mainly just disbelief; the fact that something so trivial could turn into something so life-altering."
It's believed that the victim was standing outside a nightclub after midnight during New Year's celebrations when three people approached.
One of them was allegedly holding a video camera, and Takahashi's group was asked about their resolutions for 2011.
Friend Ethan Sarfeld said that the incident quickly spiraled out of control.
"He was harassing us and we didn't want him to be there," he told CTV Toronto at the scene of the death on Sunday. The stabbing occurred in a side lane near Tattoo Rock Parlour, which is a popular club on the Queen Street West strip.
The group of friends said they asked to be left alone.
"At that point, he told us we didn't know who we were dealing with … and then flashed his big tattoo."
An hour later, around 2 a.m., the suspect returned to the area with a knife. Sarfeld also recalled the moments just before the violence broke out as his friends walked down the alley.
"Essentially, I saw them go down an alleyway. I followed (but) they were quite a ways ahead of me. I began to run. They dipped around corner came back and they had been stabbed."
Brian had been stabbed in the heart and friend Brandon Nagel was also critically injured during the incident.
A 27-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death.
Luke Heath surrendered to police on Sunday, accompanied by his lawyer. He is also facing a charge of attempted murder, and is scheduled to appear in court Monday morning.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Janice Golding and files from The Canadian Press
