Man arrested in stabbing death of boy with clown mask

Avery Valentin-Bair

READING (AP) -- Police say a dispute over a mask like one featured in the "Purge" horror movies contributed to the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old Pennsylvania boy.

Reading police say high school sophomore Christian Torres had the mask pushed up onto his head, not over his face, when he was stabbed Sunday night.

Twenty-nine-year-old Avery Valentin-Bair has been jailed on first-degree murder and other charges.

Police had said earlier this week that they were sifting through various accounts that included the victim wearing a clown-like mask, and someone else wearing it.

Police now say Torres had the mask and that it had created some sort of neighborhood controversy that led to the stabbing.

Valentin-Bair remained in the Berks County jail Friday and doesn't have an attorney listed in online court records.

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