"Ohio Man Fatally Stabbed with Samurai Sword-Like Weapon After Asking for Cigarette"

Matthew Earl McKnight (Darke County Sheriff’s Department).

A homeless man known to residents in an Ohio neighborhood was fatally stabbed after asking for a cigarette, reportedly by someone wielding a weapon resembling a samurai sword.

Matthew Earl McKnight was arrested on Nov. 16 and charged with the alleged murder of Kyle Brown. He remains in custody at the Darke County Jail. Greenville Police Chief Ryan Benge confirmed that McKnight and Brown knew each other but declined to comment on any previous disputes or the events leading up to the incident, according to local CBS affiliate WHIO.

Neighbors at the Walnut Street apartment complex described Brown as a familiar presence in the area. Sheila Horne, a resident, said she would often spend time with Brown to give him a place to relax during the day, noting that he “lived at the bridge.”

On the day of the incident, Brown was reportedly going door to door asking for a cigarette.

“I didn’t have any, so he went next door, and that guy just took some kind of sword, a samurai sword, and stabbed him,” Horne told WHIO, referring to McKnight. She also recounted a previous encounter with McKnight, alleging he once pulled a knife on her when she asked him for a cigarette. “I had to run. But he was very mentally ill and would sit up all night yelling and screaming,” she said.

Police reportedly arrested McKnight after he threatened a guest of another tenant in the building. Following the attack, Brown was airlifted to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, where he was pronounced dead.

Greenville detectives are investigating McKnight’s time at the apartment complex to uncover any history of complaints or prior incidents.