A 52-year-old man is facing an attempted murder charge after Fort Lauderdale police say he stabbed another man multiple times during an altercation at Blue Martini, then fled in his vehicle before officers used a net-firing device to stop his car. Lawrence Constantine Edmonson was taken into custody and is being held without bond at the Broward County Main Jail as of Friday.
Fort Lauderdale police responded to Blue Martini at 2432 E. Sunrise Blvd. after multiple 911 calls reported a stabbing on Thursday, according to WPLG Local 10. Officers arrived to find a man suffering from multiple stab wounds, per police, and the victim was taken to Broward Health Medical Center. The station reports Edmonson is accused of stabbing the other man after the two were involved in an altercation, and investigators say the victim is expected to survive despite serious injuries.
Broward Health Medical Center is a 716-bed public hospital that operates a Level I Trauma Center verified by the American College of Surgeons, making it the routine destination for Fort Lauderdale stabbing victims requiring emergency trauma care, as Hoodline reported this week in coverage of a separate Rio Vista stabbing that sent two people there.
How License Plate Cameras and a Net Led to an Arrest
After the stabbing, Edmonson fled the scene in his vehicle, but police say license plate reader cameras helped locate his car. Automated License Plate Reader networks operate across Broward County, allowing local departments to quickly detect suspect vehicle plates and track getaway cars following violent crimes.
Rather than pursue Edmonson at high speed, officers deployed a Grappler device that stopped his vehicle safely, per police. The Grappler Police Bumper is a vehicle-mounted technology that fires a heavy-duty tethered net around a fleeing car's rear tire, locking its axle and bringing the vehicle to a controlled stop without a PIT maneuver or spike strips, according to the same account cited by the station. Edmonson suffered minor injuries during the initial altercation, police say, and he was taken into custody following the stop.
Fort Lauderdale officers have used the tool before. In January 2025, the department deployed a Grappler bumper to catch a home invasion suspect fleeing in a vehicle. Two months later, Fort Lauderdale police joined a countywide operation in North Lauderdale that used a Grappler to disable a vehicle and arrest suspects tied to 29 vehicle burglaries, a case Hoodline covered in depth at the time.
A Venue With a Troubled History
Police have not released other details about the stabbing, including what sparked the altercation between Edmonson and the victim. Edmonson is charged with attempted murder, and under Florida Statutes Sections 782.04 and 777.04, attempted first-degree murder is a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison, while attempted second-degree murder carries a maximum of 30 years, according to legal analysis from Pumphrey Law.
This is not the first violent incident at Blue Martini's Fort Lauderdale location. In May 2019, a 43-year-old man was fatally shot inside the club and another man was wounded during a late-night dispute, according to CBS News. The venue, located inside The Galleria at Fort Lauderdale — an 800,000-square-foot commercial complex currently facing multi-tower redevelopment proposals under Florida's Live Local Act, as Hoodline detailed in its coverage of the mall's development fight — has also faced financial strain. The operating entity behind Blue Martini Fort Lauderdale filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in November 2025, reporting over $3 million in revenue the prior year while citing rising regional rents and insurance costs, per the Miami New Times.
The East Sunrise Boulevard corridor near Fort Lauderdale Beach sees heavy traffic and regular law enforcement activity, including periodic high-stakes emergency responses near the Galleria mall. Police say no other details about the stabbing were immediately released, and the exact circumstances that led to the confrontation between Edmonson and the victim remain unknown.
