Patrons of some Downtown Long Beach restaurants were shocked when a homeless man erupted into screams Monday afternoon and ran down the street with a bloodied back, apparently stabbed in front of the Chase Bank on Pine Avenue and Third Street.

A regular patron at R Bar only saw the aftermath of what happened, but said she knew the man as someone who has been in the neighborhood for several years.

“All I know is that man’s here everyday minding his own business,” she said. She heard him scream and saw him stand up and fall before getting up and running down Third Street toward the Promenade.

Krystle Sollie, a server at the restaurant heard the man screaming and ran outside to see him running away with blood on his back. At the street corner, his blanket and some clothing were in a pile among spatters of blood. More spots of blood could be seen in a trail on the sidewalk from Pine Avenue and the Promenade.

Police were called to the scene at 2:50 p.m., where they found the man with a stab wound and called for paramedics, spokesman Ivan Garcia said. Paramedics took him to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, he said.

Police took a suspect into custody but he hasn’t been booked yet, Garcia said. They also do not yet know what led to the stabbing.

Valerie Osier is the Social Media & Newsletter Manager for the Long Beach Post. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @ValerieOsier