A 21 year old San Francisco State University student was stabbed to death and two others suffered life-threatening injuries at a party in Santa Rosa that erupted in violence early Saturday.
Benjamin Herbert Floriani, was found dead on the living-room floor of the Blair Place apartment at around 1:09 a.m. Saturday morning. Two others at the party were hospitalized with severe injuries during what witnesses described as a boisterous party at the complex near West Ninth Street. The fight took place at 722 Blair Place.
Two Santa Rosa men were arrested in connection with the stabbing. Alex Paul Hopper (above left), 20, was booked into Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of murder, and Noah H. Minuskin (above right), 19, is being held as an accessory.
Floriani, who police believe was a guest at the party, was killed after a fight broke out.
Two people were transported by ambulance to hospitals shortly after police arrived.
Banayat said the injuries were life-threatening and that the identities of the victims were being withheld because the case is still under investigation.
One other person was treated for injuries and released.
Blood had dried on the walkway to the front door Saturday afternoon, indicating the possible extent of injuries, said neighbor Carlos Ojeda.
“There’s too much blood,” Ojeda said as crime scene investigators took pictures and collected evidence behind police tape.
“It’s all over the steps, the walls and the door,” Ojeda said.
Investigators were questioning neighbors and witnesses.
Neighbors said two women and several children lived in the tan, single-story apartment, where as many as 50 people gathered late Friday night.
A neighbor who would not give his name said he returned from a trip to Petaluma around 11:30 p.m. and heard yelling coming from the apartment.
He went to sleep, only to be awakened a few hours later by police going door to door with the news of the slaying.
“I heard loud arguing inside the fence,” the neighbor said.
Others said they were shocked to hear that someone was killed in the normally quiet neighborhood.
“I am very upset,” said April Shipman, who lives across the street. “I couldn’t even sleep last night.”
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what type of knives did they have at the party?
three guys go stabbed so this leads me to believe that there was more than one knife used.
yes, there were three guys with knives. basically benjamin floriani was showing off a gun and causing trouble. he made gesters and threats which caused alex hopper to pull out his knife and stab ben floriani who quickly died.
noah was arrested for using his car to drive alex away from the party and help him to escape before the police showed up.
matthew o’day and donald bittner also had knives that they used to stab efran and aniano vasquez who were friends of ben floriani, but the vasquez brothers did not die and only suffered minor slashes.
benjamin floriani on the other hand was stabbed deep in the vital area by alex hopper and quickly bled to death. people told me that he went into seisures and convulsions for like 5 minutes as the blood rushed from his body and then he was dead. there were too many internal injuries for people to try and save him.
his friends did take the gun that he had and hid it from the police, but way too many people saw it and knew that he had it.
its really dangerous to wave a gun around like he did.
I really wondered what happened to trigger this fight. Why would these four jackasses start stabbing these guys at this party? Does anyone know?
yes, benjamin floriani had a gun, was showing it off, ben floriani made threats and gesters which caused alex hopper to pull out a knife and stab him.
ben floriani probably would have shot alex hopper, however alex hopper had the element of surprise over ben floriani.
neither side was innocent here. if alex hopper had not killed ben floriani, ben probably would have killed alex with that gun.
i would venture to guess that alex would be charged with either voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. it was not like a premeditated murder. it was more of an altercation where both sides had weapons and one of them was bound to be killed.
how the friedman would you know what ben would have done?
you clearly are biased, as shown by the fact that you reply to all the comments the same why, like fox news and talking points.
word, dallas
these kids were major trouble makers it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. i totally saw it coming. did anyone else?
i saw it coming too.
people were acting crazy that night.
alex hopper is scum who has been arrested several times, was on probation, and who i have no doubt will end up in prison several times in his life.
ben floriani is trouble too, this guy has a history with drugs and alcohol, has been in trouble numerous times and probably would have eventually done something to get himself killed or killed someone else by accident due to his careless & reckless behavior.
o’day brothers are kinda trouble, however rory has potential if he hangs with better people.
donald bittner is bad too and would have ended up in prison anyway.
the vasquez brothers will also end up getting arrested, hurt, or killed if they do not take what happened and learn from it. they need to clean up their shit.
holy shit, you are making alot of bold statements. And what do you do? I happen to be very close to ben, and I feel disrespected by what you are saying on here. He died, so you assume “oh well, if not now then later”. That makes me sick, people like you have never heard of a 21 year old have a couple instances in the past where things didn’t go as planned. He was arrested for things that wern’t exactly life endangering, and to see him die like this is terrible. He was turning it around, he was on the deans list at SF State, doing alot for himself. Just keep that in mind before you make statements about someone who is gone without showing remorse. And the statement about the vasquez brothers…I know them, and really bad idea by you to throw that out there. Just please, Im begging you guys, if you died would you want people to justify it like “oh, i saw here, she was trouble. she smokes weed and hangs with the wrong crowd, so she must of deserved to die”. Do you realize how rediculous that sounds? Second chances defines life, and he was on his second chance at it. That’s why this is devestating
thank you dallas for defending Ben because people like this chick Katie have no respect for the dead at all. I was very close to Ben and went to school with him and he was no kind of trouble. Just a guy trying to better himself. It’s wrong to put anyones business out there, it’s none of your business so grow up and have some manners. The situation wasn’t easy for anyone. IF Ben had a gun, that still doesn’t give anyone the right to kill him, and I would feel the same if Ben were the one who murdered someone. That being said, Ben was one of the smartest persons I ever knew and he is truely missed.
I love you Ben.
who r u!?!?!? you make it sound like u kno all of them. you should not talk so much about someone u dont even kno, thats how things get twisted u dumb bitch! im sick and tired of hearing people talking about this like they know soo much when in reality they probably kno nothing!!! ben had his moments when he did some wrong things but everyone has those times! almost everyone has smoked or have done a drug, probably even you! that does not make him a bad person! so lets say he did have a gun i kno damn well he would have never used it. now maybe some people would use it in a situation like that but not everyone. and another thing how did u see it coming? quit acting like u kno everything!!! seriously its gonna catch up to ur fucking stupid ass!!! so get over urself and quit running ur mouth!!!!
Thanks Dal and everyone else. Katie, I’m not sure how you acquired all this info, but you really need to stop running your mouth. Everyone makes mistakes, especially in high school, but Ben turned his life completely around. And those of us who knew Ben, like myself, know that he would NOT have eventually killed himself or someone else. Making those assumptions is extremely inappropriate and unnecessary.
I love you Ben and I’ll see you soon
and your wrong about premeditated, those kids went back and got knives according to my friends that were with him. Please just stop falsifying peoples names on here, its pathetic. You guys obviously don’t know what the deal is here, so just respect ben. He was on the honors list as SF State for buisness and he needs to be adknowledged for turning his life around
he clearly did not turn his life around. he was at a party with a gun selling marijuana. dallas you need to stop trying to act black, if you were any whiter you’d be clear.
BEN FLORIANI WAS MY BEST FRIEND SINCE I COULD REMEMBER…. AND YEA BEN HAD A ROUGH TIME AS WE WERE BOTH GROWING UP, BUT THATS WHAT HE FINALLY DID. HE GREW THE FUCK UP. HE HAD HIS SHIT TOGETHER AND WAS MORE FOCUSED THAN I HAD EVER SEEN HIM IN MY WHOLE LIFE. AND READING ALL THESE PEOPLES COMMENTS ON HERE JUST MAKES ME LAUGH BECAUSE THERE ISNT ONE OF YOU THAT REALLY KNEW HIM LIKE I DID…. SO YOU CAN ALL SAY WHAT YOU WANT AND THINK WHAT YOU WANT BUT BEN WAS THE BEST FRIEND ANYONE COULD ASK FOR… I ONLY WISH THAT PEOPLE WOULD TAKE THE TIME TO TALK SHIT OUT BEFORE LEADING TO VIOLENCE… I MYSELF TOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO BEN TO HEART… SINCE THE EVENT HAPPEND I HAVE MADE A SERIOUS EFFORT TO REACH OUT TO PEOPLE THAT I HAVE HAD PREVIOUS ALTERCATIONS WITH AND LET THEM KNOW THAT IT MEANT NOTHING… AND I HOPE THAT EVERYONE THAT WAS REALLY CLOSE TO BEN DOES THE SAME…VIOLENCE IS NOT THE ANSWER FOR ANYTHING… ECSPECIALLY TAKING SOME ONES LIFE… IF ANYTHING A FIST FIGHT WOULD HAVE SETTLED IT AND BOTH PARTIES WOULD BE ABLE TO SHAKE HANDS AFTER… CUZ SOMETIMES YOU WIN AND SOMETIMES YOU LOSE…. BUT EVERYONE WALKS AWAY…NOW EVERYONE LOSES ON BOTH SIDES…. I FEEL SORRY FOR THE PARENTS ON BOTH SIDES CUZ THEY EACH LOSE A SON FOR LIFE.