PROVIDENCE — A line-order cook from Connecticut is the capital city’s 12th homicide victim this year.

Jeremy M. Olearnick, 22, of Norwich, was with friends early yesterday morning at Club Hell downtown. As his group left the Richmond Street nightclub to go back to their cars, two patrons of Level II, another dance club on Richmond Street, confronted them, said Providence police Maj. Thomas F. Oates.

Olearnick was allegedly assaulted by Narin Kheng and Antonio DiSano, both Cranston residents, on a sidewalk near Friendship and Chestnut streets. Kheng stabbed Olearnick during the incident, the police said.

A witness notified officers in the area and the officers found a man bleeding “face down with no shirt,” said a police report of another incident that occurred around the same time as the stabbing.

Olearnick was treated by Providence Fire Rescue before being taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, a police news release said.

Witnesses directed the police to Kheng and DiSano, and they were arrested on Chestnut Street, a short distance from the altercation, according to the release.

Kheng, 27, of 50 Lincoln Ave., Cranston, has been charged with murder. Oates said Kheng has been convicted of offenses previously, but none were “big acts of violence.” In March 2000, according to Providence Journal articles, Kheng was charged with four others in an armed home invasion in Cranston where a family was left bound in their basement while the house was set on fire.

Kheng — who then had an alias of “Trip” and was said to be a member of the gang Cranston Asian Boyz — was indicted on charges including assault with intent to murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, robbery and arson. He was acquitted by a Superior Court jury later that year. He was the only defendant in the case not convicted.

DiSano, 19, of 18 Grant St., Cranston, was charged with simple assault in yesterday’s incident. Oates said DiSano had previous offenses as well, but they were minor.

“We’re concerned about the behavior of a lot of the patrons,” Oates said yesterday when asked whether the downtown area is a trouble spot for the police. There are several nightclubs in the area of Chestnut, Richmond and Friendship streets, including The Complex, Level II, Restaurant Prov, Club Hell, Elements and Ultra.

Oates said there are many people leaving the dance spots simultaneously at closing time and several are intoxicated. He said some club organizers do a good job turning away past troublemakers and under-aged clubgoers, but some clubs do not.

Several police officers are already on hand, as well as club security, when the clubs are operating. Five others were arrested yesterday morning in two separate incidents around the same time and location as the stabbing.

A Warwick resident has been charged with assaulting a police officer, disorderly conduct and two other offenses for allegedly questioning officers repeatedly while they investigated the stabbing and arrested Kheng and DiSano.

The police report said James Duchesneau, 24, of Keller Street, Warwick, “walked on the crime scene and slapped one of the apprehended subjects” on the butt. He then questioned the police about “what’s going on with his two friends.”

After he refused the police’s verbal commands to leave, he struggled with officers and bit Patrolman Francisco Guerra as they fell to the ground, a police report said.

In the second incident, which was unrelated to the stabbing, four Newport men have been charged with simple assault and battery. A police report said the men were kicked out of the Ultra nightclub after being involved in altercation inside. Once outside, the men followed Justin Ducom, of Lowell, Mass., to his car on Pine Street and “attacked” him at around 2:50 a.m., the report said. The police say Ducom, 19, was taken to the hospital with “severe lacerations to his face and head.”

The Newport residents arrested were: Alexander Ramos, of 59 John Chafee Lane; Lester Evans, of 40 Parkholm Lane; Benjamin Wood, of 6 Clinton Lane; and Jeffrey McCalla, of 143 Third Lane.

apina@projo.com