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Man Fatally Stabbed During Pickup Soccer Game At Park In Front Of Dozens Of Children, Philadelphia Police Say

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Sunday afternoon at the park turned deadly when a man was stabbed to death during a pickup soccer game. The gruesome murder happened in front of dozens of children shortly after 4 p.m. at a park on the 1600 block of Hellerman Street in the city's Oxford Circle neighborhood on Sunday.

Amid the laughter of kids playing on Sunday by the Max Myers Recreation Center, a woman was seen grieving.

She was in so much pain that she could hardly stand upright.

"It's unfortunate," a witness said.

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Witnesses and police say some people were playing a pickup game of soccer when two men started arguing with each other.

The incident quickly turned violent all while dozens of kids playing basketball nearby watched in terror.

"It was the one guy with a black shirt, all black," a 13-year-old witness said. "And he just pulled out a knife and started stabbing. He fell down and started bleeding out."

At 13 years old, this is the first time the witness saw such violence.

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His friend -- who's 14 -- also saw the stabbing and remembered some gruesome details.

"He stabbed him three times, then licked the blood off the knife," the 14-year-old boy said. "Walked away like nothing happened."

The teens ran to the nearest adult.

"I just didn't want the kids seeing anything like this. It's sad," Tim Harris, who called police, said.

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Police did not reveal the victim's name, but say the man was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he later died.

The stabbing happened just several yards away from a mural of a heart that reads "Love," where so many children were trying to enjoy the summer evening.

"It's sad that they had to go through that," Harris said.

Police say no arrests have been made and a description of the suspect has not yet been released.

The investigation remains active.

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