Chief Inspector Jose Valencia, station investigation chief, said Zelester Adane, of General Tirona Street in Barangay 145, succumbed to several stab wounds.
One of three suspects was later arrested by the police.
Police Officer 2 Felipe Fermin Jr., the officer-on-case, said suspect Paul John Paler, 18, of neighboring General Evangelista Street, was arrested shortly after the incident.
Other suspects who eluded arrest were identified as Raymund Ujare and Michael John Aldover, both neighbors of the victim on Evangelista Street.
According to the police, the Adane brothers and the suspects were dining at a roadside eatery along General De Jesus Street in Bagong Barrio at around 1:25 a.m. yesterday. Paler, for some unspecified reasons, challenged the victim’s younger brother, Zernan, to a fistfight.
The victim allegedly intervened when his brother was being pounded helplessly.
Aldover then whipped out a 10-inch knife and stabbed Adane repeatedly in the body. The suspects then fled after seeing the victim slump to the ground, fatally wounded. Adane was rushed by his brother to the MCU Hospital but died before they got there.