D.A.: Co-worker stabbed to death after prank

Prosecutors say an employee at a Franconia meat-packing plant was stabbed to death after feuding with and pranking his co-worker.

Peter Jok Atem, 32, was charged with first-degree murder Thursday, a day after he allegedly stabbed 25-year-old Danny Vazquez at the Mopac plant on Souder Road.

The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said Vazquez on Tuesday had tried to pull a chair out from under Atem. An employee who witnessed the prank told detectives that Atem said he was "going to get you for that."

The next morning at work, another employee said, the two men started fighting, and Atem had Vazquez on the floor, choking him. The man later saw Atem stabbing Vazquez, the statement said.

Atem was found in a shed near the scene of the stabbing, the D.A.'s office said. His neck had been slashed and his torso stabbed - wounds authorities said were self-inflicted, according to the criminal complaint.

He was airlifted to Paoli Memorial Hospital, where he underwent surgery and remains in treatment.

Also in the shed, detectives found a knife and a note that said, in part, "You think you can destroyed my life in front of my family, friends and the all world and lived . . . See you in hell. Life for life," according to the criminal complaint.

A Mopac employee told detectives that Atem and Vazquez had been "having words back and forth . . . for the past six months," the complaint says.

Atem, who was born in Sudan and lives in Lansdale, has no criminal record of violence. But in cases from 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 he was charged with driving under the influence, driving an unregistered vehicle, and disorderly conduct, and was evicted by his landlord.

Because he is still in the hospital, Atem has yet to be arraigned.

- Jessica Parks