{"id":259933,"date":"2026-04-09T20:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/259933\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T20:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:49:09","slug":"u-s-marine-from-southern-california-killed-in-north-carolina-stabbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/259933\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Marine from Southern California killed in North Carolina stabbing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/sb-marine-killed-in-nc-gofundme.png\" alt=\"\" data-v-7d0efd03=\"\"\/> article    <\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">WILMINGTON, N.C. &#8211; An Inland Empire family is mourning the loss of 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Daniel Montano after authorities said he was stabbed to death in North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">Officials with the Wilmington Police Department said officers responded to reports of multiple fights in the downtown area around 2 a.m. Sunday, April 5.<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">Two men were stabbed in the incident, including Montano. He was taken to an area hospital where he died the next day.<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">Wilmington police investigators released photos of a person of interest in hopes someone can help identify and locate him. He was described as a Black male with a medium build, wearing a light-colored fleece-lined denim jacket, light-colored denim pants, a pink shirt, and white sneakers with blue and red accents. He was also wearing what appeared to be a dark blue head covering with long hair extending from underneath, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ncmurdersuspect.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">Anyone who was in downtown Wilmington from 12 a.m. to 3 a.m. on April 5 is asked to contact Wilmington police.<\/p>\n<p> \u2018Deeply loved by his family\u2019 <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">His family explained that Montano was assigned to 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">&#8220;He was not only dedicated to his country, but also deeply loved by his family. To us, he was more than a Marine \u2014 he was a son, a brother, and someone who brought so much light into our lives,&#8221; his family wrote on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/in-memory-of-daniel-montano-our-beloved-marine\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">GoFundMe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\">What we don&#8217;t know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">The circumstances leading up to the fatal stabbing remain under investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\">What you can do:<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">&#8220;Losing Daniel so suddenly has left our family heartbroken and unprepared for the emotional and financial burden that comes with this tragedy,&#8221; his family added.<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/in-memory-of-daniel-montano-our-beloved-marine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Click here if you\u2019d like to donate<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-v-f1afc186=\"\">This story was reported from Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: This report is based on official statements and descriptions of a person of interest provided by the Wilmington Police Department, military service details confirmed by the family, and information documented in the family\u2019s public memorial fund.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/military\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Military<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/crime-publicsafety\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Crime and Public Safety<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/nc\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">North Carolina<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/series\/instastories\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-f1afc186=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instastories<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article WILMINGTON, N.C. &#8211; An Inland Empire family is mourning the loss of 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Daniel Montano&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,2042,2444,1703,44285,100,425,1181],"class_list":{"0":"post-259933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-crime-publicsafety","12":"tag-instastories","13":"tag-military","14":"tag-nc","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-series","17":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}