LOS ANGELES aEUR: A man stabbed a doctor in a Southern California hospital emergency ward. He remained there for several hours before being arrested by police, authorities stated.
According to Drake Madison, a Los Angeles police officer, the man entered Encino Hospital Medical Center in San Fernando Valley just before 4 p.m. on Friday.
Authorities said that the man had left his car in the middle a street, and then went to the emergency department. He asked for treatment for anxiety and then stabbed the doctors and nurses.
Officials from the fire department stated that three victims were transported to a trauma center after being declared critical. Later, police said that one victim was in critical condition and required surgery.
Later, all three were listed as being in stable condition at Dignity Health Northridge Hospital Medical Center.
Police said that the Encino hospital’s first floor and nearby offices had been evacuated.
At a news conference, Alan Hamilton, LAPD Deputy Chief, stated that “We have moved patients out of danger zone”.
Hamilton said that there was no evidence Hamilton claimed that Hamilton knew of the victims.
According to police, the man was kept in a hospital room for approximately four hours while SWAT team members attempted unsuccessfully to negotiate with him. He was eventually taken into custody.
According to authorities, he was transferred to another hospital to treat self-inflicted wounds to his arms.
Hamilton stated that the man was not immediately identified but had a long criminal history, including two arrests last summer for battery on a police officer, and resisting arrest.
KNBC-TV’s Benjamin Roman, an ultrasound technician said that he first saw the man before the stabbing. He had a dog and might have been high on drugs as he looked anxious and was sweaty.
Roman claimed that he was able to see a doctor and a nurse who had been attacked after the hospital issued an “internal Triage” code.
He said that the doctor seemed to think she was in pain. “There was a lot blood, and it looked like… she might have had her abdomen.”
Two days ago, a gunman shot and killed four people at a Tulsa, Okla hospital. Authorities said that the attacker gained entry to a building at Saint Francis Hospital campus without difficulty, only hours after purchasing an AR-style rifle.
He also killed his surgeon and three others at a medical clinic. After a back surgery, he blamed the doctor.
