A father of three was fatally stabbed while defending a homeless man from being harassed by a group of men, Fox News reported.

The suspect is being searched by the California authorities on Wednesday.

As 39-year-old Donnie Reed was leaving the pool hall at Stix Sports & Grill's parking lot in Rancho Cucamonga, which is east of Los Angeles, he noticed a homeless man being verbally abused by a group of people on early Sunday morning.

Following his intervention to help the defenseless man, Reed was stabbed in the stomach, according to Fox News.

"They were getting closer to him and it looked like they were going to jump him. And me and Donnie pretty much agreed we weren't going to let that happen," Lucky Hughes, Reed's friend, told KTLA.com.

"Donnie told him to knock it off, he said 'just go home, this guy didn't do anything to you,'" Hughes said. "They started arguing back and forth. The guy came up, pulled out a knife as he was running up, and stabbed him in the chest."

When they approached the group of men, one member of the group took out a knife and attacked Reed, Hughes told the station.

"He's not a fighter, guys. He was trying to help somebody, and this is what happened to him for doing something he would have done for anybody," Jenny Reed, his wife of 19 years, told KABC.

An hour later, the stab wound to Reed's stomach eventually killed him at a hospital. According to Fox News, his best friend also suffered a stab wound to the neck, but is expected to survive.

His wife told CBSLA.com that she lost her best friend and wants the perpetrator to stand in front of their kids and "tell them why he took their daddy from them."