U.S. Military Personnel

Wilmington, North Carolina police are investigating the fatal stabbing of 21‑year‑old U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Montano during a chaotic series of downtown fights around 2 a.m. on April 5, 2026, in the 100 block of North Front Street, a nightlife area frequented by Marines from nearby Camp Lejeune. Montano, assigned to 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, was one of two men stabbed; bystander video circulating online shows him bleeding heavily on a sidewalk as officers deploy pepper spray to disperse surrounding brawls before reaching him, and a passerby attempting to render aid as he collapses against a fence. Police say a second stabbing victim initially fled but was later found, and officers applied a tourniquet that likely saved his life. Investigators have released surveillance images of a person of interest described as an adult Black male of medium build wearing a light‑colored fleece‑lined denim jacket, pink shirt, jeans, white sneakers with blue and red accents, and a dark blue durag, and are urging anyone downtown between midnight and 3 a.m. to share photos or video. Chief Ryan Zuidema, responding to growing criticism and social‑media outrage over the timing and use of pepper spray seen in the video, defended the officers’ actions, saying they arrived amid multiple overlapping fights and initially "had no idea who is who" or who was victim versus suspect. The case is fueling local and military‑community concern over downtown violence around major bases and the adequacy of crowd‑control tactics and medical response when officers roll up on large, disorganized street brawls.