Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies responded to reports of a stabbing — with multiple suspects possibly involved — at a Big Lots in Canyon Country on Friday, just a day after gunfire was reported in connection with a brawl down the street, near Sierra Vista Junior High School.
The stabbing victim, whose status was unknown Friday evening, was reportedly stabbed multiple times at the Big Lots on Soledad Canyon Road, possibly by multiple suspects, according to Sgt. Nelson Rios of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.
“Witnesses said that there were numerous people (involved in the stabbing),” Rios said, but added that deputies were still attempting to gather information on the scene and confirm the details surrounding the incident.
Rios said the incident was being treated by responding deputies as an assault with a deadly weapon, and that the victim had managed to escape the area where he was initially stabbed and make it to another business near the corner of Soledad Canyon Road and Ruether Avenue.
The victim, identified as a Hispanic man, was transported to the hospital in an unknown condition shortly after medical personnel arrived on the scene, according to Fire Department Supervisor Jeremy Stafford.
In the immediate aftermath of the stabbing, deputies were seen both walking in and out of the Big Lots store, interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence.
A security guard for the shopping center told The Signal that he had been in front of the store when the stabbing is believed to have occurred. He said he did not hear the attack occur, but quickly located a puddle of blood he believed belonged to the victim.
Although the motive for the reported stabbing remained under investigation on Friday, at least one customer at the Big Lots store Friday night noted that, just down the street on Thursday, gunfire was reported in the neighborhood adjacent to Sierra Vista Junior High School.
While investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Friday that the cause for the shooting on Thursday remained under investigation, William S. Hart Union High School District officials had expressed their belief that the incident — which forced the lockdown of three nearby schools — was the result of off-campus gang violence.
As of the publication of this story, deputies were still searching for the suspect, or suspects, believed to be responsible for the stabbing.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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