Investigators are searching for a man who fled the scene after stabbing another man following an argument in Hawthorne Monday night, officials said.

Officers who responded to the 4200 block of El Segundo Boulevard around 6:50 p.m. found the victim lying on the sidewalk with multiple stab wounds, Hawthorne Police Lt. Ti Goetz said.

Preliminary investigation indicates the assailant and victim were engaged in some sort of fight in an apartment building on the block where the victim lives.

“As far as we can tell it was just the two of them involved in a dispute,” Goetz told KTLA. “We don’t know at this time what the dispute was about.”

The argument made its way downstairs, where the victim was stabbed several times “as evidenced by the large amount of blood on the ground,” Goetz said.

The victim then stumbled down the block, where he was later found bleeding from wounds in his chest.

He was taken to the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he was in critical condition Monday night, Goetz said.

Officials are still working to identify the victim, but Goetz said he appears to be a Latino man in his early 40s.

Following the stabbing, the suspect ran northbound into a neighborhood, according to Goetz.

That man is described as a bald Latino, about 27 to 29 years old. He was shirtless at the time of the crime, wearing only shorts and shoes, Goetz said.

According to Goetz, police have frequently been called to the apartment building involved.

“This is a troubled complex, I’d have to say,” he told KTLA. “We have a lot of calls here. Largely narcotics activity, but we’ve got all kinds of problems here.”

Anyone with information on the case can contact Hawthorne police at 310-349-2727.