Claim of Self-Defense Weighed in Fatal Stabbing

One middle-aged man stabbed another outside a home in Capitol Heights on Sunday in what investigators think might have been self-defense, Prince George's County police said yesterday.

Authorities said Christopher Quattlebaum, 48, who was unarmed, was stabbed after attempting to punch a 58-year-old man on the porch of a boarding house in the 6600 block of Central Avenue. Police have not charged the older man, whose name they declined to release.

"At this point, investigators are looking as this incident as self-defense," said Officer Henry Tippett, a police spokesman. "Quattlebaum approached another man and attempted to assault him, and the man, fearing for his safety, stabbed him."

Tippett said investigators will turn over their findings to State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey, whose office will determine whether to bring charges.

The incident took place about 2:15 p.m., police said. Police said Quattlebaum, of the 200 block of Red Jade Drive in Upper Marlboro, was stabbed in the arm and bled to death.

"It apparently hit one of the main arteries, and he died of his injuries," Tippett said.

Lucinda Quattlebaum said her son, the father of three, worked construction and other jobs but had been out recently on disability. She faulted the 58-year-old man in her son's death but stopped short of saying he should be charged.

"I feel that he did act in self-defense, but he did have a weapon and my son did not," she said. "Any way you look at it he took my child's life."

The slain man's brother, Gregory Quattlebaum, said he was "not certain now" that his brother was killed in self-defense. He said witnesses told him that his brother knew the man with the knife, contrary to the police account, and he said he hoped that police would investigate fully.

"This was not a person who is going to be disregarded by this family," he said of his brother. "I hope he's not going to be disregarded by the police."

Staff writer Meg Smith contributed to this report.