Bears fan fatally stabbed in Florida before game

Jacksonville, FL, United States (4E) – A 42-year-old Bears fan who traveled from Lake County to watch the Cicago Bears play in Jacksonville was killed Sunday by an enraged husband allegedly because the victim talked to his wife at a restaurant before the game.

According to police, witnesses reported the men were sitting on a bench near the entrance a bar-restaurant when they reportedly saw Matthew Hinson, 27, stand up and used a pocketknife to slit the throat of William Christopher Pettry.

Lt. Rob Schoonover of the Jacksonville sheriff’s office said that Hinson reportedly arrived at the bar to find his wife talking to Pettry, “then the suspect became jealous, enraged, whatever you want to call it and calmly and coldbloodedly cut the victim’s throat before calmly walking out of the restaurant.

Schoonover said that after the attack, Hinson drove off, but police quickly pulled him over and discovered the knife. The suspect tried to resist arrest but police pushed him to the ground and took him in custody.

Hinson admitted to stabbing Pettry but did not explain why.

Relatives said that Pettry, a father of three and the owner of a construction and remodeling company, typically spends his time working or with his wife and three school-age children.

Carylin Hedstrom, the victims’s mother who is from Chicago, woke up to a phone call early Sunday from her son’s wife telling her what happened.

The last time she saw her son was Friday, before his flight to Florida, when he helped to organize belongings of his stepfather, who died of lung cancer September 18.

Pettry’s wife, Karen Hunt Pettry, shared her grief on her Facebook page saying “some idiot has taken his life. I’m so mad, just don’t understand why, very lost right now. Please hug the ones you love because you never know if tomorrow you will have that chance.”

Police said investigation is still ongoing.

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