‘Awful, horrific event’: Fresno father admits to fatally stabbing son

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A Fresno father now sits in the Fresno County Jail, after police say he admitted to fatally stabbing his own son.

That’s the case for 52-year-old Bryan Blackman, who faces a murder charge after his son, 25-year-old Javoeea Blackman, was found stabbed once in the chest outside their Fresno apartment in the 4800 block of N Cedar Avenue around 4:47 p.m. Wednesday. He would go on to die at Community Regional Medical Center roughly an hour later.

“Just an awful, horrific event,” said Lt. Paul Cervantes with Fresno Police. “We’re talking about a father who brought somebody into this world, and well, quite frankly, he took him out of this world.”

Lt. Cervantes says Bryan Blackman was contacted immediately once investigators arrived at the scene. There, they say they discovered he was the one who made the 911 call to dispatchers, where he claimed his son was involved in a disturbance outside. On scene, officers say he claimed Javoeea was outside banging on his front door, but that he didn’t know how his son was injured.

“Suffice it to say that he wasn’t being forthcoming with us,” Cervantes said. “Officers on scene were well aware of the fact that something was not right.”

Cervantes says Fresno Police served a search warrant at the man’s apartment. Inside, he says they discovered blood and a knife believed to be the murder weapon.

Bryan Blackman was then detained and brought to the Fresno Police Department, where he was questioned for hours about what happened. 

“Literally at 3:30 this morning we were able to get an admission/confession from Bryan on this case,” he said.

Cervantes said while it’s still very early in the investigation, it’s believed at this point that Javoeea was Blackman’s only son. A man police say had just moved home just a day-and-a-half before he was stabbed. They say Bryan had tried kicking him out, which prompted the heated and eventual fatal exchange.

Cervantes says after heading Fresno Police’s homicide unit for the last three and a half years, he has seen plenty of tragedy, but not many cases like this.

“We’re talking about a family event, specifically a father and son. It’s really, it’s very awful and it’s horrible and it could have been avoided,” Cervantes explained.

Bryan Blackman has a limited criminal history, with his last run-in with the law, according to Fresno Police, in 1993. Then, he was arrested and did time for robbery.

Now, if charged with murder, he faces spending the rest of his life behind bars.

Anyone with information regarding this homicide is asked to contact Fresno Police.