Stabbing death of Las Vegas man, 64, ruled homicide

The May death of a 64-year-old man allegedly stabbed multiple times by his girlfriend’s son in April was ruled a homicide, the Clark County coroner’s office said Thursday.

Kevin Hackett of Las Vegas died May 31 at University Medical Center from complications of multiple sharp force injuries, the coroner’s office said. Hackett was critically injured about 10:20 p.m. on April 28 in a home on the 8300 block of Abita Circle, near West Tropicana Avenue and South Durango Drive.

Chan Park, 33, was arrested the night of the stabbing after officers found him sitting on a sofa in the home, covered in blood, according to court documents.

Park was indicted May 23 on charges of first-degree kidnapping, attempted murder, attempted murder with a deadly weapon, battery with a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm of a victim 60 or older and abuse of an older person resulting in substantial bodily harm or death.

As of Thursday, Park did not appear to be facing a murder charge.

Officers were called to a home near where Hackett was stabbed after a neighbor reported a man sitting in a car parked in her driveway. When a detective approached the car, she found Hackett in the driver’s seat with “slashes all over his arms,” a deep slash on his abdomen and “blood everywhere,” according to testimony from a May 22 grand jury hearing.

While waiting for medical personnel, detectives asked Hackett where he was injured, and he pointed down the street. Police followed a fluid trail from the car to a home with “a lot of blood in the driveway,” the documents said.

Police arrested Park inside the home. Park told detectives he tried to kill Hackett while stabbing him up to seven times, and that he planned to kill his mother as well, whom he had tied up with duct tape, according to testimony.

When officers found Park’s mother, her right eye was swollen shut, and she was bleeding from her head. Police in April said she was hospitalized with injuries that appeared to stem from a beating.

“She had duct tape around her throat and duct tape around her mouth,” a detective testified May 22. “She said she managed to, like, lick it down so she could scream but, yes, there was duct tape everywhere.”

Park’s mother testified that she did not remember being attacked.

“Initially she was just asking where’s Kevin, where’s Kevin, where’s Kevin,” a detective testified. “When I found her that’s all she said to me on scene.”

Park told detectives that “he’s been having these thoughts, that he was planning on this for a while,” according to testimony. “He couldn’t elaborate further on why he wanted to or why he was doing it. He just said it was too difficult for me to understand.”

According to court documents, Hackett was unable to testify May 22, because he was intubated and unable to speak, his kidneys were “shutting down,” and he was suffering from pneumonia and septic shock.

Park remained in the Clark County Detention Center on Thursday, jail records show.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.