Third person arrested after May stabbing in Iowa City

A third person has been arrested in relation to a stabbing outside an Iowa City bar in May.

Christopher Torres, 17, of Iowa City is charged with two counts of willful injury causing serious injures and one count of willful injury causing bodily injury.

Torres joined in a large fight of 10 or more people outside of Bardot, 347 S. Gilbert Street, on May 6 at about 1:55 a.m., according to a criminal complaint.

During the fight he brandished a knife and stabbed three different people, the complaint states. One victim had a slash across his face and abdomen and stab wounds in his armpit and back. The second victim was stabbed in the torso, armpit, neck and back, with the stab to the back chipping off a piece of the person’s spine. The third victim was stabbed in the armpit and the back, according to the complaint.

The three men who were stabbed were taken to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics after police arrived, according to a news release from the Iowa City Police Department.

When police interviewed Torres days after the stabbing, he was wearing the same shoes he wore during the fight, which were bloody, and he admitted to using the knife during the fight, the complaint states.

A search warrant of his cellphone revealed messages between himself and his girlfriend in which he bragged about stabbing more than one person, and said the victims got to “taste the knife,” and “got wht (sic) they was looking for,” the complaint states.

Torres was arrested Wednesday and had his first appearance in court Thursday. He’s being held on a $20,000 bond. A no-contact order was filed on behalf of the victims.

Two men — Victor A. Torres Molina and Lake M. Newton — were arrested May 11 in relation to the stabbing.

Torres Molina, 28, of Iowa City, faces charges of assault while participating in a felony and of participating in the riot. He is accused of participating in the fight, according to a criminal complaint, and was identified by numerous witnesses and a video showing him kicking a person on the ground. He admitted to kicking a person on the ground but denied stabbing anyone, according to a complaint.

Newton, 21, of West Liberty, faces charges of willful injury causing serious injury and of participating in a riot. A criminal complaint states he was participating in the fight and was seen on multiple witnesses’ videos throwing punches, holding one victim so he could be attacked and body-slamming the victim and throwing that person to the ground, knocking him unconscious.

Newton is accused of stabbing one victim numerous times. Officers recovered broken glasses at the scene that matched photos of Newton on social media, according to the criminal complaint.

Both Newton and Torres Molina have been released from custody after posting bond. Newton posted a $15,000 bond and Torres Molina posted a $10,000 bond.

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com