A naval medic has been charged in the brutal killing of a man who was stabbed more than 40 times in his own apartment near the Washington National Cathedral.
Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Collin J. Potter is charged with murder, the U.S. Marine Corps Training Command said in a statement Monday. He is assigned to The Basic School, USMC Training Command in Quantico, Virginia, the Marines confirmed.
Potter, 26, was arrested by D.C. police on Sunday and charged with killing 36-year-old Vongell Lugo.
Lugo was a successful retail executive who ran the men's department at Bloomingdales in Chevy Chase in the past. Lugo's friends told News4 that he was openly gay.
It's unclear how the two men knew each other, but police are characterizing the killing as a domestic homicide.
First responders arrived at the apartment on Wisconsin Avenue Northwest near Washington National Cathedral before 4:30 a.m. Sunday.
Police say they found Potter, naked, bloody and apparently uninjured, standing over Lugo's body in the hallway of the apartment. Lugo was not wearing clothes and was covered in a blanket.
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According to court records, Lugo was stabbed 40 times in the neck and upper chest and seven times in the abdomen.
Potter started talking to police when they arrived and said he had consumed alcohol and marijuana, according to court documents.
Police reported they found numerous bottles of alcohol inside the apartment. Court documents say investigators also found blood, a stained knife in a butcher block and another knife in a sink with running water.
After he was handcuffed, Potter asked the police to kill him and expressed he wanted to die, according to court documents.
Potter was initially charged with first-degree murder, but court documents show the charge was downgraded to second-degree murder.
Potter enlisted into the Navy more than eight years ago, in September 2010.
