Four people have been arrested following a stabbing in Tongva Park last week including three juveniles and one 19-year old man.
The adult, Los Angeles resident Joseph Zachariah Theus was booked for providing a false ID to police and then released. The three minors (two male, one female), were arrested for robbery and one of the males faces additional charges of assault with a deadly weapon.
According to SMPD, the homeless victim was lying down on a park bench at about 1:45 p.m. when he was confronted by a group of juveniles. One of the males in the group grabbed the victim’s phone and ran out of the park while another male brandished a knife before the entire group fled the scene.
A short time later, the victim saw one of the females from the group sitting at the east end of the park and the victim took the female’s phone as leverage to get his phone back. The initial group returned to defend the female and a fight broke out. A second man intervened to defend the first victim from the group and both were stabbed.
Both victims were taken to local hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.
Multiple knives were recovered and several juveniles were detained. The three juveniles arrested are all from Santa Monica.
editor@smdp.com
