Mass Stabbing Spree in Oakland Kills One, Wounds Four — Suspect Unnamed

A homeless suspect was arrested Monday night after a 30-minute stabbing rampage across East Oakland left one dead and four injured. Police say the attacks appear to have been random.

Oakland Stabbing Rampage: One Dead, Four Hurt in Apparently Random Attacks

A 30-minute stabbing spree across East Oakland killed one person and wounded four others Monday night, NY Post Metro reports, with police describing the attacks as apparently random and declining to publicly identify the suspect.

At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Oakland Police confirmed that a man had been taken into custody shortly before 8 p.m. Monday and is believed to be responsible for all five attacks. Officers repeatedly refused to name either the suspect or the victims, stating only that those hospitalized were three men and two women between the ages of 30 and 50.

One of the men died from his injuries at the scene. A second victim remained in critical condition Tuesday; the other three were listed as stable.

"So far we believe that they were random," police said Tuesday, adding that it remained too early in the investigation to determine whether the victims had any connection to one another. Authorities noted that the suspect is homeless and that at least two of the victims were as well.

The violence began shortly before 7:30 p.m. when officers were dispatched to Cesar Chavez Park following reports of a shooting. At the scene they found a victim with stab wounds instead. Lifesaving measures were attempted but the person died at the scene.

Officers then located a second wounded individual near 38th Avenue and San Leandro Street. BART police alerted city officers to a third stabbing near the Fruitvale BART station, and two more victims were subsequently found near 39th Avenue and International Boulevard — four separate locations in all, across roughly half an hour.

Community members played a direct role in the arrest. As officers searched for the attacker, residents directed police toward the suspect near the 1500 block of 39th Avenue. Officers pursued the person on foot, ordered him to drop the knife, and took him into custody without further violence. A weapon believed to be connected to the attacks was recovered.

"I'd actually like to thank the community for coming forward and working with the officers to help take the suspect into custody," a police spokesman said, adding that the situation could have been "a lot worse."

Authorities said they have not encountered a series of attacks of "this magnitude" in recent years. The investigation remains ongoing as detectives work to establish what prompted the rampage and why the suspect targeted the five victims.

Source: NY Post Metro