[CrazyExpat]

BANGKOK — An American tourist was killed on the Thai island of Phuket after a British man allegedly picked a fight with him at a bar, followed him back to his hotel and stabbed him to death, police said Sunday.

The body of Dashawn Longfellow, 23, was found before dawn Saturday at the Yanui Paradise Resort with several stab wounds in his chest, said police Lt. Col. Anukul Nuket.

According to witnesses, Longfellow was at a bar near his hotel with a Thai girlfriend when a British man identified as a regular picked a fight with him, Anukul said.

The Briton, who trained in Thai kickboxing, or Muay Thai, was known for "getting drunk and picking fights and bragging that he's invincible," Anukul told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. Longfellow fended off the attacker until bar staff separated them and the American left with his girlfriend.

The Briton is believed to have followed the couple back to their hotel, where Longfellow dropped off his girlfriend and went out to a convenience store, Anukul said. When the American returned, the Briton was allegedly waiting for him outside his room where a fight ensued and Longfellow was stabbed, according to Anukul.

A man who identified himself as a manager at the Yanui Paradise Resort declined to disclose details, saying he was only speaking to the U.S. Embassy. The embassy could not immediately be reached for comment. Longfellow's passport said he came from Littleton, Colorado, police said.

Police said they have issued an arrest warrant for the suspect.

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[CrazyExpat]

Classmates remember ex-Marine from Norman killed in Thailand

His given name was Dashawn Longfellow, but the Norman High School graduate was known simply as "Deeds” to the Marines who served with him.

Longfellow, 23, was killed Saturday in Thailand, reportedly stabbed to death by a British man who fought him earlier that night in a bar.

"He didn't deserve what happened to him,” close friend Kelly Cochran wrote in an e-mail to The Oklahoman. "The man responsible will be caught, and I pray for his soul. As for Deeds, I'm not worried about him because I know he's at peace.”

Matt Gronbach, a Marine who called Longfellow "a great mentor to me and a (superior) machine-gunner” in Afghanistan, explained the source of his popular name.

"He got the nickname Deeds off the movie 'Mr. Deeds' because Adam Sandler's first name in the movie was Longfellow and his last Deeds,” he said.

Cochran said her husband, Beaux, and Longfellow served four years together with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines. She said the two were inseparable — he had a room at their home when they were stationed at Twentynine Palms, Calif. — and described Longfellow as "a happy guy, carefree and full of laughter.”

Kelly Cochran said her husband and Longfellow were deployed twice with "the Marines of 2/7” — first to Iraq and then to Afghanistan, where both were wounded.

"Deeds was wounded when the Taliban shot an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) into the turret of his MRAP (mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle),” Cochran wrote. "This was shortly after my husband returned back to the States. When we got the news about Deeds getting hurt, we were both worried but glad that he was alive.”

Beaux Cochran is back in Afghanistan, while Longfellow recently left the corps to move to Thailand and train to become a Muay Thai fighter — a goal, Kelly Cochran wrote, that Longfellow told them he would pursue.

Daniel Lenel, a former wrestling teammate at Norman High, said he hadn't seen Longfellow in a few years, but remembers "a smile that could light up any room.”

Lenel recalled being a Norman High freshman at wrestling practice when Longfellow, an older and more experienced teammate, took the time to stop the ninth-grader and show him the proper technique of a particular move.

"He was always helping someone or trying to get them to laugh,” he said.

Grant Atteberry said Longfellow, a former classmate at Irving Middle School and Norman High, was an easygoing person who could strike up a conversation with anyone, yet had a focus and determination about him.

"He was really driven,” Atteberry said. "Every time he put his head into something, he always did the best he could.”

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