San Diego homicide detectives said the stabbing followed a fight near Hollister Street before the suspect fled in a dark-colored vehicle.
SAN DIEGO — A young man died after he was stabbed during a fight near the Palm Avenue Trolley Station in San Diego’s Palm City neighborhood, prompting a homicide investigation and a search for the person who fled the scene, police said.
San Diego police said the department’s communications center received a report of a stabbing at about 7:50 p.m. July 23, 2024, in the 600 block of Hollister Street. Officers from the Southern Division responded and found the wounded man at the nearby trolley station. Transit security personnel and officers provided lifesaving aid before paramedics took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police had not publicly identified the victim in their initial release. Investigators described him as a Hispanic male who appeared to be a teenager or young adult. Detectives said they were working with the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine and confirm his identity.
According to the preliminary investigation, a physical fight involving a small group of men began on the west sidewalk of the 600 block of Hollister Street. The confrontation then moved into a nearby parking lot. Police said the victim was stabbed during the fight and ran across the street toward the Palm Avenue Trolley Station, where responding officers and transit personnel found him.
Investigators said the suspected attacker left the area after the stabbing and got into a small, dark-colored vehicle. The vehicle was last seen traveling south on Hollister Street. Police described the suspect only as a Hispanic male with a youthful appearance who could have been a teenager or young adult.
Homicide detectives began interviewing possible witnesses and canvassing the surrounding area for surveillance video that could help establish what happened before, during and after the confrontation. Police specifically sought people who might have witnessed the fight but left before officers arrived.
The investigation centered on determining what led to the fight, identifying all of the people involved and locating the person suspected of carrying out the stabbing. Police did not announce a possible motive in the initial information released after the killing, and no broader description of the suspected attacker was provided.
The Palm Avenue station is part of the Metropolitan Transit System trolley network in southern San Diego. Transit operations at the station were affected while authorities investigated the scene, according to contemporaneous reporting, before trolley service resumed.
No later arrest or confirmed identification connected to this specific July 23, 2024, homicide was located in the public sources reviewed for this article. The last verified police information reviewed said homicide detectives were seeking witnesses and additional evidence as they investigated the killing.
Author note: Last updated August 22, 2026.