Detectives Pursue 'Strong Leads' In CORROSION OF CONFORMITY Stabbings

Tampa Police Spokesman Joe Durkin has told Bay News 9 that detectives are making progress in the search for a murder suspect in the wake of Thursday night's (June 23) brawl at a CORROSION OF CONFORMITY concert in Ybor City, Florida.

Durkin said police have leads in the case.

"[We're] following some strong leads right now and hopefully that'll produce an arrest, if not at least an alert out for who we are looking for," said Durkin.

The suspect is described as a white male, 28-30 years old, 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10, about 150 pounds, with several tattoos, a pale complexion, a baldish head, and a reddish-brown goatee and moustache.

Detectives say the incident started when two women got in a fight in a mosh pit at Club Masquerade on East Seventh Avenue at about 11:30 p.m.

As people tried to separate the women, 30-year-old Thomas Laskas of Tampa stepped back and realized he'd been stabbed several times in his upper body.

The suspect then reportedly stabbed three other people, and continued to wave the knife at people before fleeing the scene.

Laskas was rushed to Tampa General Hospital, where he later died. Laskas' wife, 30-year-old Wendy Laskas, was one of the stabbing victims, and is in critical condition at TGH.

Tampa resident Nicholas Stegall, 20, was treated for his stab wounds at TGH and released, and Dallas Ashe, 29, was treated for his stab wounds at the scene.

Ashe is an employee at Masquerade and good friends with Thomas and Wendy Laskas.

"It didn't seem real," Ashe said of the stabbing of Thomas Laskas. "I figured he was going to get back up and start walking or something. But it just started going downhill."