Long Beach
Police Department

CORRECTION 9/13/22 at 5:15 p.m. - The arrest date of the suspect has been corrected in bold below. 

Update 9/13/22
On Sept. 12, Long Beach Police Department Special Investigations detectives arrested a Long Beach man wanted for a murder outside a business over the weekend.

On Sept. 10, Homicide Detectives were notified of the stabbing death of Christopher Finley and responded to investigate. With assistance from patrol officers, 56-year-old Michael Smalls was identified as a suspect.

Detectives believe the murder stemmed from two altercations. During the first altercation, the victim(s) were involved in a fight with a man who was armed with a “taser” in front of a business. Moments later, a second altercation occurred in which Smalls got into a physical fight with the two victims, which escalated to Smalls stabbing both victims. Smalls then took off on a bicycle. The man with the “taser” was detained at the scene and arrested on an unrelated charge.

Smalls was booked into the Long Beach City Jail for one count of murder, one count of attempted murder, and is currently being held on $2,000,000 bail. Detectives will present the case to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office for filing consideration this week. The motive is under investigation. Currently, there is no evidence this is a hate or bias motivated incident.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is urged to contact Homicide Detective Michael Hubbard and Jesus Espinoza at (562) 570-7244. Anonymous tips may be submitted through "LA Crime Stoppers" by calling 800-222-TIPS (8477), downloading the "P3 Tips" app to your smartphone (available at the Apple app store or Google Play), or by visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org.

Original News Release 9/11/22
On Sep. 9, 2022 at approximately 11:47 p.m., officers were dispatched to the 1700 block of Broadway regarding an assault with a deadly weapon, which resulted in the death of a male adult.

Upon arrival, officers contacted two male adult victims suffering from stab wounds to the upper body. Officers rendered aid to the victims until the arrival of Long Beach Fire Department, who transported the victims to a local hospital. On Sep. 10, 2022, at approximately 10:47 a.m., one of the victims, who has been identified as Christopher Finley, a 28-year-old resident of Long Beach, succumbed to his injuries.

Through their preliminary investigation, patrol officers discovered information indicating that the suspect and the victims were involved in a verbal dispute, which lead to a physical fight, and escalated into both victims being stabbed. The motive is still under investigation.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is urged to contact Homicide Detectives Michael Hubbard and Jesus Espinoza at (562) 570-7244. Anonymous tips may be submitted through "LA Crime Stoppers" by calling 800-222-TIPS (8477), downloading the "P3 Tips" app to your smartphone (available at the Apple app store or Google Play), or by visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org.