Suspect in Navy Pier fatal stabbing released without charges

A suspect in the fatal stabbing of a 56-year-old man at a Navy Pier beer garden Sunday was released without charges, police said.

John Branscomb, 56, fought with another man over a woman they both had romantic interest in, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office and Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), whose ward includes Navy Pier.

Branscomb, who lived in the Loop, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The other man, 64, from south suburban Riverdale, was also hospitalized and underwent surgery for a small cut to the chest. He “made multiple statements that the victim attacked him and he stopped the attack,” according to a police report.

He was released without charges, police said Tuesday.

Reilly said the suspect and victim knew each other.

“It appears one was a boyfriend. The other was an ex-boyfriend of a woman. They got into a very brief altercation and, apparently, the guy took one swipe at the victim and the victim walked away, sat down and apparently died there,” Reilly said.

He said security responded to the incident quickly and it wasn’t a random act of violence, so people shouldn’t be worried about their safety at the Pier, one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions.

“It’s sad that this is how people are resolving their disputes now with a gun or a knife, rather than with their words,” Reilly said. “It seems to be a phenomenon that has occurred post-COVID. People just don’t know how to be civil and they don’t know how to work out their conflicts without violence. It’s playing out too often.”

Last November, a disgruntled former employee fatally shot two coworkers at a restaurant office at Navy Pier.