Two nurses and a doctor were stabbed at a hospital in Encino Friday afternoon, and police say they apprehended the assailant after he was barricaded for multiple hours inside the hospital.
The incident was reported around 3:50 p.m. at Encino Hospital Medical Center at 16237 Ventura Blvd., Los Angeles Police Department officials said.
The suspect allegedly entered the hospital and stabbed the victims, Officer Drake Madison told KTLA.
The victims were rushed to Dignity Health Northridge Hospital Medical Center, officials said.
While all three victims were initially reported by police to be in stable condition, Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton later said two were in stable condition, while one was in critical condition.
The assailant was believed to be barricaded inside a room in the hospital, police said in a tweet, later adding shortly after 8:30 p.m. that he had been taken into custody.
Police, including a SWAT team, worked to bring the alleged attacker, a man armed with a knife, out to surrender, Hamilton said, though it ultimately took “other methods outside of negotiation.”
“He’s being transported to a local hospital for injuries that appear to be self-inflicted,” he said.
This man has previously been arrested twice for allegedly battering a police officer and resisting arrest, Hamilton added.
Authorities cleared people from areas of the hospital amid the ordeal, the Times reported.
“We’ve evacuated the first floor of the hospital. We’ve moved patients out of the danger zone and we’ve evacuated the offices that are adjacent to the hospital, so there’s no danger to the community outside of the hospital at this time,” Hamilton said.
Around 5:30 p.m., SWAT officers entered the hospital, aerial video from Sky5 showed.
Several law enforcement and fire vehicles responded to the scene after the stabbing, the aerial video showed.
The alleged attacker entered the hospital to “seek treatment” after a reported car crash, though police found no evidence of a crash, Hamilton said.
