LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Las Vegas man accused of a fatal stabbing that happened Tuesday morning claimed the victim “fell into the knife,” according to the arrest report by the North Las Vegas Police Department.

North Las Vegas police officers were called to a shopping center on Simmons Street near Ann Road on Tuesday, Feb. 7 after a report of a fight between two men. While en route, the officers were told that there was a bleeding man who had been stabbed inside one of the center’s businesses, the report stated.

Upon arrival, police found employees attempting to give first aid to the victim by holding paper towels to his stab wounds. Crime scene investigators later found a “large knife with a black handle” on the floor near the victim, police said.

Several pools of blood, a cell phone, a red glove, and a pack of cigarettes were also found near the scene, according to the report. The victim was taken to UMC Trauma, where he was later pronounced deceased.

Witnesses interviewed by detectives said they saw a man, identified as the victim, walking through the parking lot. According to the report, the victim approached a vehicle, before hitting the trunk with his bare hands.

According to the report, the driver of the vehicle, later identified as 39-year-old Yaroslan Granda Ruedas, exited the vehicle with a 12-inch knife. Granda Ruedas and the victim got into a fight. The victim was stabbed in the back three times, police said.

The third stab left the knife sticking out of his back, according to witnesses on the scene. The victim then ran away from Granda Ruedas, who chased him for a short distance before he picked a cell phone up off the ground and drove away, according to the report.

A witness who worked at a neighboring business who knew Granda Ruedas said that he had been in their business just prior to the altercation. According to the report, Granda Ruedas was “acting irrationally and aggressively while with them.”

Police said Granda Ruedas attempted to cash in his $100,000 life insurance policy but was told the policy had no cash value. According to the report, Granda Ruedas became more upset before leaving.

While detectives were speaking with Granda Ruedas’ wife, they learned that Granda Ruedas had told his brother that someone “attacked him with a pipe and he stabbed them in self-defense.”

Several witnesses recalled seeing a pipe or “jack handle” during the altercation, according to the report.

Granda Ruedas’ wife also told police that she and Granda Ruedas had been married for 16 years and shared children. The two have been separated for five months because Granda Ruedas has “experienced mental health issues.” She told police that she had attempted to get a court order to “force him to get help.”

During the interview with Granda Ruedas’ wife, Granda Ruedas called his family members saying he wanted to turn himself in. Detectives and officers met up with Granda Ruedas and arrested him.

During the police interview, Granda Ruedas revealed that he had gone home, changed his clothes, and taken the clothing he was wearing during the altercation to the dry cleaners. According to the report, he pulled out the receipt for the cleaners.

When asked what had happened, Granda Ruedas told detectives he “was having a good day.” He told officers he went to take out a loan against his insurance and that the interaction with the employees there was “cordial.”

When told that the employees had said he was “irritated and aggressive,” he stated that he was not and that they were lying, according to the report.

Granda Ruedas said that as he was leaving, he saw the victim approaching his vehicle and that he believed the man was “not mentally all there.” As Granda Ruedas was pulling away, he said the victim hit the back of his car, which prompted Granda Ruedas to stop and open the driver’s door, he told police.

Granda Ruedas said he noticed the victim was reaching for his waist area, so he reached into his glovebox and removed a knife. He then “rushed the guy before he could pull something from his waist,” according to the arrest report.

Granda Ruedas said that the victim struck him in the back of the head with a pipe. He then told police that the victim “fell into the knife” twice and that the third stab was in self-defense. Granda Ruedas told police that after he stabbed the victim, he walked away and never chased after him.

According to the report, he picked up the pipe and the victim’s cell phone. He put the pipe in his car, threw the cell phone into the rocks nearby, and drove away.

Detectives asked why he didn’t call the police, he said this “was his first time” and that “everything happened too fast.” He also claimed he didn’t think he had time to drive away safely when the victim first approached his car, according to the report.

Granda Ruedas was arrested and booked on a charge of open murder with the use of a deadly weapon. He is being held without bail.