Dodgers fan slain following Giants game 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Photo: Courtesy California Department O Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Image 1 of 9 Jonathan Denver Jonathan Denver Photo: Courtesy California Department O Image 2 of 9 Remnants of police tape mark the spot near Third and Harrison streets where Dodgers fan Jonathan Denver was fatally stabbed after Wednesday's game against the Giants at AT&T Park. Remnants of police tape mark the spot near Third and Harrison streets where Dodgers fan Jonathan Denver was fatally stabbed after Wednesday's game against the Giants at AT&T Park. Photo: Douglas Zimmerman, SF Gate Image 3 of 9 S.F. Police Chief Greg Suhr says, "It's just senseless." S.F. Police Chief Greg Suhr says, "It's just senseless." Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle Image 4 of 9 The day after a Dodger fan was fatally stabbed after a Giants game, San Francisco Chief of Police Greg Suhr holds a press conference at the hall of justice on Thursday Sept. 26, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. The day after a Dodger fan was fatally stabbed after a Giants game, San Francisco Chief of Police Greg Suhr holds a press conference at the hall of justice on Thursday Sept. 26, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle Image 5 of 9 Image 6 of 9 The day after a Dodger fan was fatally stabbed after a Giants game, San Francisco Chief of Police Greg Suhr holds a press conference at the hall of justice on Thursday Sept. 26, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. The day after a Dodger fan was fatally stabbed after a Giants game, San Francisco Chief of Police Greg Suhr holds a press conference at the hall of justice on Thursday Sept. 26, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle Image 7 of 9 The day after a Dodger fan was fatally stabbed after a Giants game, San Francisco Chief of Police Greg Suhr holds a press conference at the hall of justice on Thursday Sept. 26, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. The day after a Dodger fan was fatally stabbed after a Giants game, San Francisco Chief of Police Greg Suhr holds a press conference at the hall of justice on Thursday Sept. 26, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle Image 8 of 9 Giants pitchers Sergio Romo (left), Matt Cain and George Kontos observe a moment of silence for Jonathan Denver. Giants pitchers Sergio Romo (left), Matt Cain and George Kontos observe a moment of silence for Jonathan Denver. Photo: Thearon W. Henderson, Getty Images Image 9 of 9 Dodgers fan slain following Giants game 1 / 9 Back to Gallery 
 
 It was, at first, the sort of baseball rivalry spat that happens all the time - a batch of Giants and Dodgers fans mixing it up, talking some smack, shoving a bit. Most such confrontations dissolve quickly and harmlessly. 
 
 On Wednesday night, however, events took a far more tragic turn after a Giants-Dodgers game in San Francisco - leaving one young man stabbed to death, one suspect in custody and two more being hunted by police. 
 
 Jonathan Denver, a 24-year-old Dodgers fan who worked as a plumber's apprentice in Fort Bragg (Mendocino County), was stabbed near Third and Harrison streets about 11:30 p.m., less than 90 minutes after the game ended at AT&T Park six blocks away, police said Thursday. He had taken the day off so he could attend the game with his father - a security guard for the Dodgers - and other family members. 
 
 The group that fought with Denver and the others on the streets South of Market didn't go to the game, but the killing happened after the combatants exchanged insults about the Giants and Dodgers, police said. At least one of the suspects wore a Giants cap, and Denver was dressed in Dodgers apparel, police said. 
 
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 Car from Lodi 
 
 A 21-year-old Lodi man, Michael Montgomery, was arrested and booked on suspicion of homicide, police said. Two other men who fled the fight on foot were being sought. 
 
 A fourth man, an 18-year-old, was also arrested but was released late in the day without being charged, authorities said. 
 
 Denver was with his father, Robert Preece, along with his father's girlfriend, his brother and perhaps one other person Wednesday night, police said. They left the game in the eighth inning to go to a bar. 
 
 The trouble started when Denver and his companions left the bar and encountered the suspects, who had come to the South of Market to club-hop, Police Chief Greg Suhr said. The two groups exchanged words about the Giants-Dodgers rivalry, and the back-and-forth "deteriorated into a fight," the chief said. 
 
 The fight broke up, but a few minutes later the two groups crossed paths again, Suhr said. More fighting broke out, and this time Denver was stabbed. 
 
 Denver died at San Francisco General Hospital. A second man was treated at the hospital after he was punched numerous times during the fight, police said. That man was later released. 
 
 'No place for violence' 
 
 "Obviously, this is one of the most storied rivalries in baseball," Suhr said. "But there is no place for violence. Please be respectful of everybody rooting for whoever they want to root for. ... The fact that anybody got in a beef over the Giants vs. Dodgers and someone lost their life, it's just senseless." 
 
 Denver had been a plumber's apprentice for two years at North Coast Plumbing, Heating and Sheet Metal in Fort Bragg, said the company's owner, Cas Smith. He had taken time off from his job to go to the game. 
 
 "He was just a very nice young man - he wanted to be a plumber," Smith said. "He was very promising. He was one of our best apprentices. 
 
 "It's sad." 
 
 Denver's aunt, who did not want to be named, said the family "just wants everyone to know that he was a good-hearted person. He wasn't looking for trouble and wasn't involved in any gang." 
 
 She said her brother, Denver's father, has been a security supervisor at Dodger Stadium for many years. He also works security at Staples Center in Los Angeles, home of the Lakers of the NBA and the Kings of the NHL, she said. 
 
 She said she spoke to Preece on Thursday. "He was having trouble with being able to complete sentences," she said. "He was in shock." 
 
 The Dodgers said that "the pain that this has caused his family and friends is unimaginable. Words are not enough to describe our sadness. There is no rational explanation for this senseless act which resulted in Jonathan's death." 
 
 Dodger Stadium victim 
 
 The Giants and Dodgers are longtime rivals, and at times the rivalry has spilled over into violence between fans. The most notorious incident happened after the opening game of the 2011 season in Los Angeles, when Giants fan Bryan Stow was severely beaten in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium. 
 
 Two San Bernardino County men are awaiting trial in connection with the attack, which left Stow, a paramedic from Santa Cruz, with long-term brain injuries. The Giants held a fundraiser for Stow on Tuesday, with some proceeds from tickets going toward his care, and planned to do the same at games Thursday night and Sunday afternoon. 
 
 A spokeswoman for the Giants said the team knew little more about the Wednesday night incident than what police have said. 
 
 "We're obviously very concerned about the situation and trying to understand exactly what happened," said the spokeswoman, Staci Slaughter. 
 
 The team observed a moment of silence for Denver before Thursday night's Giants-Dodgers game. Police said they would increase security in and around the ballpark. 
 
 San Francisco Chronicle staff writers Henry K. Lee and Kevin Fagan contributed to this report. ||||| San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr late Thursday morning offered details of the confrontation that led to the fatal stabbing of a 24-year-old Dodgers fan -- the second tragedy in recent years in the storied rivalry between the L.A. team and the Giants. 
 
 The stabbing death of 24-year-old Jonathan Denver appears more complicated than the 2011 brutal beating outside Dodger Stadium that left Giants fan Bryan Stow with severe brain damage. Denver, his father, his father's girlfriend, his brother and a friend left Wednesday's game during the 8th inning and went to a nearby bar, Suhr said. 
 
 They were walking down 3rd Street toward Harrison Street, about four blocks from the ballpark, when they encountered a group that had come to town in a car registered in Lodi to visit a nightclub. 
 
 "There was a back-and-forth about the Giants-Dodgers rivalry, which deteriorated into a physical fight," Suhr said. While someone in Denver's group initially got the "short end," there were no serious physical injuries, Suhr said. 
 
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 Then, a second fight erupted, although it was "unclear who followed who," he added. 
 
 That fight involved "two or three people" from the victim's group and "four or five" from the other group, said Suhr, and ended when Denver, who was wearing Dodgers gear, realized he had been stabbed. 
 
 The attackers fled and two were taken into custody a few blocks away. They remained in questioning midday Thursday. Suhr, who declined to name the men, said the two -- described in a police report as being aged 18 and 21 -- were talking to investigators. 
 
 Police, who are looking for two other possible suspects, put out a call for any cellphone video, business surveillance footage or witness accounts. 
 
 The Giants-Dodgers games, as well as football games between the Cowboys and 49ers, trigger what Suhr referred to as a "rivalry package" of enhanced police staffing, which was in effect Wednesday. 
 
 At Thursday's game, Suhr said, some officers working the game will be wearing Dodgers gear. 
 
 "Obviously, this is one of the most storied rivalries in baseball," said Suhr, a self-described "big Giants fan." But, he added, "there is no place for violence. Please be respectful of everybody rooting for whoever they want to root for. " 
 
 "Although ... the suspects were not at the game and the victim had left. The fact that anybody got in a beef over the Giants versus Dodgers and someone lost their life, it's just senseless." 
 
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 Twitter: @leeromney 
 
 lee.romney@latimes.com
– Police say it was indeed a fight over rival baseball teams that led to the fatal stabbing of a 24-year-old man in San Francisco Wednesday night. Jonathan Denver was wearing Dodgers gear when his group encountered a group of Giants fans on a street outside the Giants' stadium, reports the Los Angeles Times. "There was a back-and-forth about the Giants-Dodgers rivalry, which deteriorated into a physical fight," says San Fran's police chief. The groups actually broke apart after that first fight, but met up again a short time later and fought again. Denver got stabbed during the second fight, and police have two suspects in custody, ages 18 and 21. Denver had been at that night's Dodgers-Giants game with his father, who works as a security guard for the Dodgers, and a few other people, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. His death follows the beating in 2011 of Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium. Stow survived but has severe brain injuries.