Additional reporting by Jason Ruiz. Photos by Brian Addison.
A 42-year-old man who was stabbed in his right leg outside the Walmart in Downtown Long Beach this afternoon is in stable condition.
Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) officers responded to the scene outside the Walmart at about 4:00PM in regard to a man with a knife involved in an altercation, said LBPD spokeswoman Megan Zabel.
Witnesses said a homeless man stabbed another man after an altercation.
“There were two older black males and they were standing outside near the kiosks at Walmart,” said witness Christina Stokes. “From what I saw, the man in a red sweater stabbed the kiosk worker in the right thigh and then the owner jumped up and threw a bike on him. The guy in the red sweater fell into the planter and the owner got on top of him with a knee on his chest/abdomen and a hand on his throat holding him down. When everyone was telling him to get off he was yelling, ‘No, he stabbed me!’ [He was fearful of being stabbed again since] he wasn’t sure where the knife was and stayed on him until the police came. They then put the guy in the red sweater in the car and the kiosk owner was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.”
Zabel said the suspect is in custody, and Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD) paramedics transported the victim to a nearby hospital.
No other information was immediately available. We will update this story as we learn more.