NEW ORLEANS – A Marine who had survived duty in Iraq was stabbed to death in the French Quarter in violence that marred the Halloween weekend.
On Sunday, police said 23-year-old Ryan Lekosky of Metairie and his wife were walking about 3:30 a.m. about a block from Bourbon Street when a man drove up and began yelling comments about Lekosky's wife. Police said she argued with the driver, and Lekosky was stabbed when he tried to intervene.
Lekosky, a Marine sergeant who worked in aviation supply, was born in Corpus Christi, Texas and had served in Iraq, said Capt. Kate VandenBossche, spokeswoman for Marine Reserve Forces in New Orleans. She said he was living in Metairie while stationed in New Orleans, but listed his home as in Nueces County, Texas.
Family members told the Corpus Christi Caller Times that Lekosky was in his Marine dress uniform, walking his new wife home from a Marine Ball. She was not identified.
Lekosky's parents headed to Louisiana to meet her for the first time and decide whether to bring his body home for burial in Corpus Christi.
His older brother, Billy Lekosky, said the family was shocked to hear the Iraq and Afghanistan veteran was killed on American soil after years in combat zones.
"It's seems like he was safer over there than he was in his own country," Billy Lekosky told the newspaper.
He said that after several men began yelling obscene remarks at his wife from a passing car, Ryan Lekosky confronted one, who pulled out a knife and stabbed him several times.
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On Sunday, police said 23-year-old Ryan Lekosky of Metairie and his wife were walking about 3:30 a.m. about a block from Bourbon Street when a man drove up and began yelling comments about Lekosky's wife. Police said she argued with the driver, and Lekosky was stabbed when he tried to intervene.
Lekosky, a Marine sergeant who worked in aviation supply, was born in Corpus Christi, Texas and had served in Iraq, said Capt. Kate VandenBossche, spokeswoman for Marine Reserve Forces in New Orleans. She said he was living in Metairie while stationed in New Orleans, but listed his home as in Nueces County, Texas.
Family members told the Corpus Christi Caller Times that Lekosky was in his Marine dress uniform, walking his new wife home from a Marine Ball. She was not identified.
Lekosky's parents headed to Louisiana to meet her for the first time and decide whether to bring his body home for burial in Corpus Christi.
His older brother, Billy Lekosky, said the family was shocked to hear the Iraq and Afghanistan veteran was killed on American soil after years in combat zones.
"It's seems like he was safer over there than he was in his own country," Billy Lekosky told the newspaper.
He said that after several men began yelling obscene remarks at his wife from a passing car, Ryan Lekosky confronted one, who pulled out a knife and stabbed him several times.
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WDSU Link
