![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edwardkoubek.jpg\")
article <\/p>\n article <\/p>\n
Photo of Edward Koubek (Austin Police Department)<\/p>\n
AUSTIN, Texas – Court documents show that a server at a downtown Austin restaurant has been arrested and charged after stabbing a pastor dining there.<\/p>\n
The suspect, identified as 45-year-old Edward Koubek, has been charged with second-degree felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.<\/p>\n
The victim has been identified as Jairo Sandoval-Pliego, a pastor at San Jose Catholic Church in Austin.<\/p>\n
The backstory:<\/p>\n
The incident happened at around 10:30 p.m. on June 27 at Bob’s Steak and Chop House located at 301 Lavaca Street.<\/p>\n
The Austin Police Department responded after multiple 911 calls about a stabbing.<\/p>\n
When officers arrived, staff directed them to Sandoval-Pliego, who was bleeding from his neck. An officer applied pressure to the wound and Sandoval-Pliego was taken to a hospital for treatment.<\/p>\n
Officers began their investigation and began speaking to witnesses.<\/p>\n
A couple dining with Sandoval-Pliego said as they entered the restaurant, Koubek greeted them saying he recognized Sandoval-Pliego from church.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As they were finishing up dinner, the couple said Koubek again approached Sandoval-Pliego and they thought Koubek was giving a goodbye hug but then realized Koubek was stabbing Sandoval-Pliego repeatedly.<\/p>\n
After the stabbing, Koubek was located in a closed room with blood on his hands and the shirt he was wearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Koubek was detained without incident.<\/p>\n
Dig deeper:<\/p>\n
APD says they went to the hospital to obtain a statement from Sandoval-Pliego.<\/p>\n
Sandoval-Pliego told police that Koubek used to go to church to pray but that he had not seen Koubek for several months. He said he and Koubek had a polite conversation and that Koubek attacked him unprovoked.<\/p>\n
Hospital staff said that Sandoval-Pliego suffered around four to six stab wounds to his back and shoulder area and that without medical intervention, Sandoval-Pliego could have died from his injuries.<\/p>\n
The other side:<\/p>\n
Police interviewed Koubek, who told them that he had been going to Sandoval-Pliego’s church since 2018.<\/p>\n
Koubek told police he would go to confession occasionally and that he believed Sandoval-Pliego “would snicker” after he gave confession.<\/p>\n
When he saw Sandoval-Pliego at dinner, Koubek said it upset him as “he is still holding a grudge” against Sandoval-Pliego.<\/p>\n
Koubek admitted to stabbing Sandoval-Pliego with a knife from the restaurant’s kitchen and that he paced back-and-forth for about 10 to 15 minutes before the assault.<\/p>\n
When asked what his intention was, police say Koubek said, “in the moment, to kill him.”<\/p>\n
What’s next:<\/p>\n
Bail for Koubek was set at $18,000 and Koubek was ordered to have no contact with Sandoval-Pliego and to stay away from the restaurant and the church.<\/p>\n
The Source: Information from City of Austin Municipal Court documents.<\/p>\n
Downtown<\/a>Crime and Public Safety<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article Photo of Edward Koubek (Austin Police Department) AUSTIN, Texas – Court documents show that a server at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,1046,993,223,394,216,393],"class_list":["post-356134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-downtown","tag-news","tag-travis-county","tag-tx","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}