Inset: Damian Mitchell (Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry). Background: The Safeway grocery store in Phoenix where Damian Mitchell purchased a paring knife that he used to stab a man outside (Google Maps).
An Arizona man is headed to prison for using a paring knife that he had just bought from a Safeway grocery store to stab a stranger to death after they "exchanged words" as they "passed each other" outside, court documents say.
Damian Mitchell, 48, was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison this week for the December 2024 slaying of Reminisce Biddle, 29, in Phoenix, according to a Maricopa County Attorney's Office press release.
Mitchell was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder.
"On December 29, 2024, Reminisce walked into a grocery store in Phoenix, said he had been stabbed, and collapsed," the attorney's office said. "Detectives learned that Mitchell and Reminisce had passed each other … and exchanged words. The defendant turned around and followed the victim behind a building, where he stabbed Reminisce once in the chest."
A probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime describes how Mitchell was caught on camera entering the Safeway to purchase a "3.5-inch paring knife" and a can opener. He paid with a prepaid debit card.
"Surveillance video shows that just before the stabbing, Mitchell was in the same grocery store and bought a knife that matched the victim's stab wound," the attorney's office said. "Because the defendant used a debit card to pay, Phoenix Police detectives were able to identify him and gather additional evidence to further link him to the murder."
After exiting the store, Mitchell and Biddle "passed each other and exchanged words," according to the affidavit. Mitchell followed Biddle for a few blocks and then attacked him behind a nearby building.
"This defendant chose to turn a brief encounter into a moment of violence, taking Reminisce's life and leaving his family and loved ones with irreparable loss," said Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell in her office's press release.
After being tracked down through the debit card, Mitchell was arrested on Jan. 5, 2025, and questioned about what happened. "The defendant admitted he entered the Safeway grocery store and purchased the knife," the affidavit says. "He stated he left the Safeway and rode his bicycle to the area of what he described as the crime scene."
Mitchell tried to claim that another individual had asked to use the paring knife that he purchased, stabbed Biddle with it, and then returned it to Mitchell after the attack, according to the affidavit. Mitchell said he discarded the knife in a parking lot after seeing that there was blood on it.
A witness who saw the initial confrontation between Mitchell and Biddle told police that they saw Biddle being followed by Mitchell and "heard what sounded like an altercation" after the two of them went behind the nearby building.
"[The witness] observed Biddle hold his chest and leave the area westbound on a bicycle, while the suspect left eastbound on his mountain bike," the affidavit says.
"I'm thankful to prosecutor Bernita Clark for getting justice for Reminisce and his family, and ensuring his killer is held accountable," said County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.
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