DA tells of argument before hotel stabbing

They had worked together for a half-dozen years in the posh hotel restaurant in the Back Bay. But after they argued last Friday afternoon, Ivan Lorenzo-Sosa , 37, assaulted his longtime co-worker, then fatally stabbed him, a prosecutor said yesterday.

Carlos E. Borrero Jr. , 30, the father of an 8-year-old boy, was stabbed in the chest, hand, thigh, and bicep, said Cory Flashner , a Suffolk assistant district attorney. The wound that killed him punctured his lung and heart, Flashner said yesterday in Boston Municipal Court, where Lorenzo-Sosa was arraigned on charges of murder.

Borrero was a bartender and Lorenzo-Sosa a cook at Turner Fisheries , the hotel restaurant. Prosecutors said the motive behind the stabbing and the nature of the argument remained under investigation.

Flashner said a video camera inside the Westin Copley Place , where the men were fighting about 4:30 p.m., caught part of the confrontation , though not the actual stabbing.

``The incident ended when co-workers restrained" Lorenzo-Sosa, he said.

During the arraignment, some among the dozens of Borrero's relatives and friends stared at Lorenzo-Sosa, who wore a white jumpsuit and kept his head lowered. As his mother and sister sat expressionless behind him, Lorenzo-Sosa was ordered held without bail. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

After the arraignment, a woman later identified as Borrero's common-law wife could not stand without the help of friends. Borrero's mother was so grief-stricken she had to be carried out of the courtroom. Several friends and relatives approached by reporters after the arraignment declined to comment.

``He was a real good man and a working man," said a woman in the group who declined to identify herself.

Lorenzo-Sosa's lawyer, James Greenberg , said his client told him Borrero had assaulted him.

``He never intended for this to happen," Greenberg said after the arraignment. ``He was protecting himself."

Turner Fisheries, which had been closed since Friday afternoon, reopened yesterday for lunch.

A restaurant manager deferred comment to a hotel spokesman, who could not be reached.

The restaurant continues to provide grief counselors to employees, said Stephen Crawford , spokesman for UNITE HERE Local 26 , the hotel and restaurant employee union representing workers at Turner Fisheries.

``It's a terrible thing," Crawford said. ``Our sympathies go out to the victim's family."

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.