Murder Witnesses Share Freely on Social Media

Within 90 minutes of watching a murder unfold in front of them, witnesses to Saturday's deadly stabbing at a Lake Forest restaurant used their iPhones to begin broadcasting the news on Facebook.

"[Expletives] just got shanked at Albatross," said a status update posted at 3:31 a.m. Saturday by Keaton English.

He was referring to the death of Elvis Kechechian, a 26-year-old Mission Viejo resident and coach at Santa Margarita Catholic High School. Kechechian and a friend were stabbed after a 2 a.m. altercation at Albatros Mexican restaurant. (The second man remains in critical condition.)

The all-night restaurant was packed at the time. Video by sheriff's investigators. Curiously, the audio is punctuated by laughter. Perhaps it was to relieve the tension of the situation, but it's unsettling to watch.

Some of the social media posts also seem to strike an inappropriate note.

Five hours after English first wrote about the murder, he posted again, bragging about an interview he did at the crime scene with TV news crews.

"I saw some fool get merked last night catch me on that channel 5&7 news bruh," he wrote at 8:10 a.m., posting from an iPhone.

About an hour later, English shrugged off a friend who warned him to watch his back following the TV appearance. He wrote, "No that fools got like 30 witnesses against him."

On Saturday afternoon, he posted again in a stream of comments reacting to his post about being on TV: "taa ha some fool got shanked," he wrote at 2:31 p.m.

Moises Acosta, another witness interviewed on TV shortly after the killing, also turned to Facebook. At 3:27 a.m., he wrote: "Just got caught up in crime scene witness investigation. Dammnit!!!!!"

At 8:03 a.m., he posted again: "Me and turbo witnessed a murder last night, scope us on channel 5 and 7."

With kinder words, acquaintances and friends of Kechechian also took to the Internet, expressing shock and dismay.

"Elvis Kechechian you were loved by everyone and you will be greatly missed, see you in heaven Rest In Peace :(," Sasha Ayesha wrote Sunday on Twitter.

The same day, Vixen Tye tweeted three times about Kechechian's death.

"Elvis Kechechian I am so sorry you lost your life to ignorance, you will NEVER be forgotten... so hard to breath right now... numb," Tye wrote.

Still, social media has its limits. On Monday, at a memorial service at Santa Margarita High School, Kechechian's mourners returned to old-fashioned pen and paper to write notes of sorrow and condolence for Kechechian's family to keep.