Eyewitness Account of Neo-Nazi Stabbing at Ritz-Carlton

By Thomas Francis Wed., Nov. 18 2009 at 12:03 PM

Categories: Crime, Palm Beach

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Flickr: BOB WESTON

The Palm Beach State Attorney's Office is still examining the evidence in the October 26 stabbing at the Ritz-Carlton in Manalapan, but as we wait to see whether prosecutors will file charges, we're learning more about exactly what happened during the speech by Nazi historian David Irving. That altercation involved two men, Christopher Nachtman and John Kopko.

The following account was provided by a witness who wrote Juice a note without disclosing his or her identity. According to the source:

Mr. Nachtman was invited by David Irving personally because Mr. Nachtman and his wife were going to open a bookstore to market David Irving's material and other white racialist materials. Mr. Nachtman is involved in a skinhead group called VolksFront and that group has an ongoing feud with another skinhead organization called Hammerskin's. [edit: The Southern Law Poverty Center has made the same allegation, which Juice reported last month]

I think Mr. Kopko is or used to be part of that group, but I am not sure.

I have heard rumors that Mr. Kopko became a Jew for Jesus several years ago and denounces his past activities, but this rumor has not been verified. It's important because then we a talking about a hate crime.

Mr. Kopko and Mr. Nachtman began a heated conversation at intermission and one of them suggested they settle their disagreement outside. They both agreed. Mr. Nachtman was the first to leave and Mr. Kopko followed him out into the hall. Mr. Kopko's two children followed their dad (one 11-year-old son and the other is 16). As I walked out I heard Mr. Kopko yell, "He's stabbing me, he has a knife!" At this time both men were on the floor and I could see the knife in Mr. Nachtman's right hand.

The source says that a person brought to the event for security purposes broke up the fight, then removed the knife from Nachtman.

I learned later that Mr. Nachtman fled West on foot, but was being pursued by Manalapan police with the assistance of a helicopter. I was told that he had several knives on his person, and they next day they found a firearm (handgun) near where they apprehended Mr. Nachtman. The following day the serial numbers matched a firearm owned by Mr. Nachtman.

The assertion that Irving invited Nachtman is at odds with what Irving told the Palm Beach Post's Jose Lambiet -- that the incident "had nothing to do with me or my lectures."

More from this source later today.

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