All-Day Crime Spree Ends In Arrest For Suspect Who Stabbed Three, Committed Carjacking
NORTH HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA) — An "all-day crime spree" resulted in one man arrested after his reign of terror began in Panorama City early Thursday morning, when he stabbed his own father following what authorities have referred to as a "domestic situation." Four people overall required medical attention following the actions of the individual.
The initial incident was reported at around 9:30 a.m.
He then carjacked a woman near the residence where the crime was committed, which he used to flee from the area. Authorities were unable to locate any sign of the suspect until around 1 p.m., when they found the stolen car, with blood inside, abandoned on the side of the 170 Freeway.
The suspect reemerged at around 4:00 p.m. on Oxnard Street and Laurel Canyon Boulevard in North Hollywood, when Los Angeles Fire Department and Police Department crews arrived to the scene of the reported stabbing at a cigar lounge.
Three people were stabbed at the Cohiba de Cuba cigar lounge, when the suspect reportedly attempted to carjack another vehicle that was parked outside of the business.
"I just came out here this is just wild," said Serg Oganezov a customer and friend of the lounge's owner, "innocent people smoking a cigar after a hard days work gotta get hurt."
One of the victims was able to stab the suspect as an act of self-defense. All three of the people involved were transported to a nearby hospital in serious condition. The owner of the business was also reported to have sustained injury, but denied medical transport.
He spoke with CBS reporters off-camera, where he detailed the events that led up to the stabbing. A man, reported to somewhere in his 40s, entered his business and demanded the keys to a HUMV that was parked out front of the cigar lounge. The owner kicked him out, when he reportedly went around the back of the building and stabbed an employee, before reentering the business and stabbing a customer.
It was then that the suspect himself got stabbed, though it wasn't immediately clear by who.
The suspect's father is reported to be in stable condition and should recover from the wounds he suffered.
LAPD Detective Jason Wagner, one of the officers investigating the crime scene at the cigar lounge, echoed the concerns of many across Los Angeles County when he spoke with CBS on Thursday. "I think crime's going up in the City of L.A. and the County of L.A.," he said, "things are out of control. We're doing the best we can to put a band-aid on a major wound."