Police search for suspect in stabbing at LA hospital

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police were searching Tuesday for a man suspected of stabbing an employee at a Los Angeles hospital, prompting a lockdown of the facility Monday evening.

Officers responded shortly after 6:30 p.m. following reports of an assault by a man with a knife at Mission Community Hospital, said Officer Annie Hernandez with the LA Police Department.

Hernandez said the officers found a man suffering from a stab wound at the hospital in the Panorama City neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley.

Craig Garner, a Mission Community spokesperson, later identified the victim as a hospital employee and said the stabbing occurred somewhere outside the medical facility.

“The employee was transferred in stable condition to another facility,” Garner told the Los Angeles Times.

Hospital officials did not know whether the assailant and employee knew each other, or whether the attack was random, Garner said.

The hospital was briefly locked down as police conducted a search.

Police said the suspect ran from the scene. He was described as wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, a black hat and carrying a black backpack, Hernandez said.