Police: Stabbing victim was playing peacekeeper Lt. Jim Arts of the Gren Bay Police Department gives details of the stabbing incident during a news conference Monday (photo by H. Marc Larson). The weapon and motive are still being looked for By Jessica La Plante News-Chronicle Although a disturbance at a West Side bar was blamed for setting into motion the city's second homicide of the year, police said the victim of Saturday's fatal attack - 42-year-old Ricardo Saldana - was playing the role of "peacekeeper" on the night of his death and did nothing to provoke the assault. The stabbing, which occurred in the 800 block of Cora Street, claimed Saldana's life and caused prosecutors to file the charge of first degree intentional homicide against 21-year-old Gerald Stevens, an acquaintance of Saldana's. Although the details of the stabbing are still unfolding, Lt. Jim Arts of the Green Bay Police Department said that police believe just prior to the attack, the suspect "was intoxicated and was involved in some type of disturbance at (a) bar." Arts said the victim and suspect, who were acquaintances prior to the stabbing, had crossed paths at a tavern on South Broadway Saturday evening. While at the bar, the suspect became involved in an altercation. To prevent the situation from escalating, Saldana offered to give the man a ride home. "Our victim acted as a peacemaker and brought Mr. Stevens to his father's house at 819 Cora St.," Arts said. Not long after the two men arrived at the home, Stevens allegedly stabbed Saldana in what police and prosecutors are calling an unprovoked attack. Stevens was arrested two hours later at a residence located in the 600 block of Twelfth Avenue. Arts said the officers who located Stevens observed that he was intoxicated. He said the precise level of intoxication will not be known until the state crime lab has processed the results of a blood test. While the events leading up to the attack remain unclear, a criminal complaint filed in Brown County Circuit Court on Monday offered more insight to the alleged stabbing. Most of the information in the complaint was attributed to a police statement given by Martin Stevens, the father of the 21-year-old suspect and only witness to the alleged attack. Martin told police he was home alone in his apartment Saturday night when Saldana showed up on his doorstep with his son, who appeared to be drunk. Martin said the two men seemed to be engaged in a friendly conversation just prior to the attack. According to the complaint, Martin left the room momentarily and returned to witness his son lunging at Saldana with a stabbing motion. The complaint said Martin tried to chase down his son, who fled the apartment after the attack, and then ran across the street to summon help. At about 9 p.m. Saturday, rescue workers arrived at the scene to find Saldana lying in the street, wearing a blood-soaked shirt and drifting in and out of consciousness. The suspect's father was kneeling at his side, trying to administer first aid. Although Saldana underwent emergency treatment at St. Vincent Hospital, he died from a single stab wound to the abdomen at about 6:40 a.m. Sunday, Lt. Arts said. The stabbing marked the second homicide investigation launched by the city's police department in 2003. The first occurred in February, when police found 27-year-old Timothy Braun shot dead in his home. The only suspect implicated in Braun's death committed suicide the same week Braun was found dead. Although this year's homicide statistics show an increase from 2002, when the city went an entire year without a single homicide, Lt. Arts said Saturday's stabbing should be cause for concern, but not panic. "Anytime you have a homicide in a city like Green Bay, it's very important to pay attention to, but it's nothing to panic over," Arts said. "I think we have a very safe community, and this isn't one of those (homicides) that's random. This is something where the folks knew each other. It's tragic, but yet it's not something that we should feel unsafe about." Arts said the investigation into the stabbing is continuing. At present, Green Bay detectives are searching for the weapon used in the attack - which was not found at the crime scene - and the suspect's motive. To find answers to those questions, police are interviewing employees and patrons of the South Broadway bar where the victim and suspect had met up Saturday night. Although the case remains under review, Brown County District Attorney John Zakowski said the initial evidence gathered by police was enough to support a charge of first-degree intentional homicide filed Monday. He said the evidence strongly suggested Stevens had acted with the intent to kill. According to the complaint, Stevens told police he was angry with Saldana over a comment made about his father during the car ride home from the Broadway bar. Zakowski said the decisions to charge the crime as first-degree intentional homicide, was based on "the degree of force used and the (conclusion) that there seems to be some motive." Other factors considered include "the location of the wound, statements Mr. Stevens may have said prior to the incident or after the incident, and the level of intoxication," Zakowski said. Apart from Saturday night's incident, Stevens' only other run-in with the law was in 1999, when he was convicted of theft and sentenced to serve four years in prison. He was released in February 2002. Based on Stevens' prior record and the circumstances alleged in the criminal complaint, a Brown Count Court Commissioner set Stevens' bail at $200,000 Monday. He will remain in Brown County Jail until Jan. 14, when he is scheduled to return to court for an adjourned initial appearance. In the meantime, police will try to further their understanding of Saturday's night attack, while friends and family of Rico Saldana also attempt to make sense of the tragic event. Abel Saldana described his brother as a "hardworking, cheerful" man who raised six children while running a full-time commercial cleaning business in Green Bay. "He would give the shirt off his back; he was just a great person," Abel Saldana said. Abel said the most disturbing aspect of his brother's death is the thought that his brother's defining virtue - a selfless concern for family and friends - might have played a role in his death. "This tragic death almost tells you 'should I help someone in distress, or do I just leave him be?' Because of this, look what happened: My brother's life is gone."