Turkish footballer stabbed to death while attempting to stop man hitting woman

ISTANBUL

A footballer at the Yedikule Sports Club was stabbed to death while he was trying to intervene to stop a man hitting a woman on an Istanbul street on Jan. 29. 

The incident occurred at 11 p.m. on Jan. 29 in the city’s Fatih district.

Footballer Yunus Emre İzol and his friends tried to intervene upon witnessing a man hitting a woman as she was trying to get in a cab.

The attacker then reportedly turned on the interveners with a knife, stabbing İzol and two of his friends, Abdülhamit Akın and Uğur Taşkan.

After the incident Akın, Taşkan and İzol were rushed to the nearby Samatya Hospital, where İzol died after sustaining two stabs to the heart.

The attacker was detained by police after going to hospital for treatment after the incident. 

Police detected that the 38-year-old suspect was under the influence of alcohol and had a previous criminal record for “deliberate injury.”

The suspect said he attacked the woman, who is of Moldovan origin, after she allegedly stole his mobile phone.

Following the incident Akın spoke from hospital while under treatment.

“The man was holding the woman by the hair. He stabbed me, then I saw him stabbing İzol in the heart. We came to the hospital with İzol but we lost him two minutes after we arrived at the hospital,” he said.