Hawaii County police opened a murder investigation after a man found with stab wounds in a Hilo parking lot died Tuesday evening.

South Hilo patrol officers and paramedics responded to a stabbing at around 4 p.m. on Kilauea Avenue.  The victim was taken to Hilo Medical Center, where he later died.

Police have identified the victim as a 43-year-old man with no local address, but are witholding his name pending notification of next of kin. 

Police believe two men confronted the victim in a grassy area between a business off Kilauea Avenue and the mauka soccer fields off Kamehameha Avenue. After being stabbed, the victim managed to walk to a drug store parking lot, where he was found. 

Detectives are looking for witnesses who may have seen two men running in the north along Kilauea Avenue between Hualalai Street and the downtown area between 3:30 and 3:45 p.m. One was described as about 6-feet tall, about 160 pounds with short blond hair and hazel eyes. He was wearing green knee-length shorts and a white T-shirt. The other was described only as a  man with a fair complexion wearing a white tank top and prescription glasses.

Anyone with information is urged to call the police department’s non-emergency line 935-3311 or Crime Stoppers at 961-8300.