One suspect outstanding after man murdered on residential Ellesmere Port street

Police are still searching for one suspect after a man was stabbed to death on a residential street in Ellesmere Port yesterday evening (May 1). Officers at the scene confirmed Lloyd Velasquez, 34, had died of his injuries at the Countess of Chester Hospital after being attacked on Summertrees, Great Sutton.

Chief Superintendent Jon Betts said police had arrested two men, aged 19 and 21, on suspicion of murder. Police are still searching for a third man believed to have been involved.

Chief Supt Betts said he could "not put an exact number" on the number of people involved in the incident, which he described as an "altercation". He said police believe the incident was 'isolated'.

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Chief Supt Betts told CheshireLive: "My officers last night received a call from the North West Ambulance Service at approximately twenty-past eight to say we had a male who they believed to have been stabbed. Ourselves and paramedics who attended the scene, along with members of the public, administered emergency first aid.

"I would like to say a huge thank you to those members of the public, my own staff, and the paramedics for their efforts. Very sadly, despite that and the work of the emergency team at the Countess of Chester, we were unable to save Mr Velasquez’ life.

"Immediately after the incident and that initial response, we have commenced a murder investigation. That has been running through the night.

"Within five hours, officers supported by Merseyside Police made the arrest of a man 19-year-old from Ellesmere Port in the Halewood area. Just this afternoon we have had a second person who is involved in the incident who has surrendered themselves to Blacon police station, and has also been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Chief Supt Betts said police "cannot put an exact number on the people involved" yet. He said: "At the moment, our initial information is there may have been three people involved in the initial altercation with Mr Velasquez. We have arrested two so far and our enquiries are continuing.

"We need to confirm with the witnesses as the information builds, we have a huge amount of work recovering CCTV and dashcam footage as we try to piece this together. But, at the moment, we still believe we have another party who we haven't yet got in custody.

Chief Supt Betts said there was no wider risk to the community, adding: "I don't want to speculate on exactly what has taken place last night, but all the information we have is that all of the parties were known to each other, that the incident, whatever it is, is isolated to that group.

"We want to find out about everyone who was there, either as a witness or involved either directly or on the periphery, to try to find out exactly what took place here last night on behalf of Mr Velasquez and his family."

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