Man dies in workplace altercation

An Elkhart man died after he was involved in a workplace altercation Wednesday in Cass County’s Mason Township.
Sheriff Richard J. Behnke said deputies were called shortly before 5:30 a.m. to Ameri-Kart, a business in the 19300 block of Grange Street.
While Deputies and ambulances were en route, it was discovered that one of the employees had stabbed the other with a knife. The suspect in the case was detained by employees who witnessed the incident. The victim was treated by company emergency responders and later ambulance personnel from Edwardsburg.
Despite those efforts, the victim – 24-year-old Jan Carlos Velazques – was pronounced dead at the scene.
A preliminary investigation shows that the victim and suspect were on a break when, for an unknown reason, a fight ensued.
Witnesses said they thought the confrontation was a fist fight until they saw the victim bleeding from the neck area, and realized the suspect had a knife.
The suspect, a 23-year-old man from Elkhart, was taken to the Cass County Jail.