Bristol man fatally stabs roommate

BRISTOL, Conn. (WTNH) -- A Bristol man has been charged with murder after he fatally stabbed his roommate Saturday night, police said.

Police responded to 73 Wolcott Street shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday for the report of a disturbance on the second floor.

Two roommates fighting escalated to one man stabbing and killing the other.

Neighbors heard the commotion and the dying man's cries for help.

"I heard 'Help! Help! Help! I need help' and then I called 911," explained Carl Aubertin Jr., a neighbor, "and they were here in one minute."

Cops report finding Stephen Cassidy, 35, stabbed many times, lying and bleeding on the floor, begging for help.

His roommate barricaded himself in an attic space, bringing the Emergency Response Team to the apartment at 73 Wolcott Street.

"When they were going in we could hear the guy in the attic, 'leave me alone, I want to die alone. If you come in, I'm going to kill myself.' It was just crazy," said Corey Pratt, a neighbor.

Witnesses say cops didn't even wait for the paramedics. They carried the bleeding victim down the stairs, wrapped in a sheet.

"It was pretty bad. The cops brought him down wrapped in a sheet, carrying down with the four corners. It was horrible," Pratt explained.

"They had him in a sheet, they carried him out, and it was full of blood...it was terrible," said Shelley Francini, of Bristol.

The victim died at Bristol Hospital. The roommate, covered in blood, surrendered.

"They were bringing him out and they had him in handcuffs, just screaming, like 'Ahhhhh' really loud," said Francini.

38-year-old Michel Torres is now charged with murder.

It is unclear what the two were fighting about, but neighbors say they were going at it all night.

"It's scary. I have two kids, ya know, we live right next door," said Pratt. "It's scary when it happens right next to your house.

In court Monday News 8 learned Torres is from Puerto Rico, but has been in Connecticut for 16 years, and living in the house for eight years. They also said he has a clean record, as well as a part-time job.

Torres is being held on a $1 million bond and is on suicide watch.