Doctor, 2 nurses stabbed at California hospital; assailant captured, identified

LOS ANGELES — A doctor and two nurses were stabbed in an attack at a California hospital on Friday, with the suspect in a standoff with police at the site, authorities said.

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According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the incident was reported at about 3:50 p.m. PDT at Encino Hospital Medical Center, KTLA-TV reported.

Update 3:53 p.m. EDT June 4: Police identified the man suspected in the stabbings as Ashkan Amirsoleymani, 35, KTLA-TV reported.

He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and was booked on three counts, according to KNBC-TV. His bail was set at $3 million, according to the television station.

Update 11:28 p.m. EDT June 3: After a standoff of nearly four hours, the suspect was taken into custody, KABC-TV reported. The man was taken away in an ambulance shortly after 8 p.m. PDT, according to the television station.

Update 11:13 p.m. EDT June 3: The suspect allegedly entered the hospital and stabbed the victims, Officer Drake Madison, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department, told KTLA-TV.

Police told the television station that the assailant was still barricaded in a hospital room.

A SWAT team is working to persuade the suspect to surrender, Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton told reporters.

“We are going to be taking action to bring this thing to a successful resolution,” Hamilton said.

While all three victims were initially reported by police to be in stable condition, Hamilton later said two of the victims were in stable condition, while one is in critical condition, KTLA reported.

Update 9:49 p.m. EDT June 3: Police sources and Elizabeth Nikels, a spokesperson for Prime Healthcare, the company that runs the Encino Hospital Medical Center, confirmed that the victims are a doctor and two nurses, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Update 8:59 p.m. EDT June 3: Police said a doctor and two nurses were stabbed, the Los Angeles Times and KTLA-TV reported. All three were in critical condition.

Original report: Officers responding to the scene found two critically injured victims, LAPD spokesperson Drake Madison told the Los Angeles Times. Nicholas Prange, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson, later confirmed to the newspaper that three people were transported to an area trauma center in critical condition.

The alleged assailant is barricaded inside the building, KNBC-TV reported. Police said the suspect had a knife, according to the Times.

“Police are inside as well, trying to bring this to a peaceful resolution,” Madison told NBC News.

A SWAT team was on the way too the hospital, according to KABC.

It is unclear what led up to the incident.

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