Detectives are investigating a bizarre, unprovoked attack on a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department detective that took place Monday morning at a fast food restaurant in Southern California's Canyon Country, reports the Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
The alleged assailant came up to the victim — a law enforcement officer who was not in uniform and who has not been identified — and the alleged attacker asked the officer if he was a deputy, and then stabbed the officer once in the chest, Sheriff's Department officials said Monday morning.
The victim, who KTLA reported is a 26-year veteran detective, appeared to be wearing a Sheriff's Department ID tag in photos taken at the scene of the stabbing, but was dressed in business attire. It's not certain at this time if he was on duty at the time of the attack.
Paramedics rushed the sheriff's official to the hospital from the scene outside the Jack In the Box on Soledad Canyon Road at 10:08 a.m., said Fire Department Inspector Dave Dantic. The victim is expected to make a full recovery from his injury.
The 21-year-old suspect, whom deputies quickly identified based on witness descriptions and previous interactions, then fled the scene. Deputies found him in a home not far from the scene of the stabbing, and the department's Special Enforcement Bureau was called to the scene to assist officers on duty and take him into custody.
