California stabbing suspect arrested after 1 killed, 3 hurt

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) - A man with a knife was arrested after a series of stabbings in Southern California early Monday that killed a woman and wounded three other people, authorities said.

Yohance Sharp, 21, of Long Beach was booked on suspicion of murder and his bail was set at $2 million, police said. It wasn't immediately clear whether Sharp had an attorney to speak on his behalf.

Officers near downtown Long Beach responded to a report of a stabbing at around 5:30 a.m. and found a woman in her 60s who had been stabbed several times in her upper body, police said.

Investigators learned that the woman had simply been standing on Atlantic Avenue when a man came up and attacked her, police said.

The woman, whose name wasn't immediately released, was pronounced dead at a hospital, police spokesperson Brandon Fahey said.

About an hour later, police were sent to another reported stabbing about a half-mile (0.8 km) to the south. A man was hospitalized with non-life threatening stab wounds to the upper torso, Fahey told reporters.

Shortly after 7 a.m., two men were stabbed about a mile (1.6 km) south of where the second attack occurred. They were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Fahey said.

Sharp was carrying a knife when he was arrested near the scene of the third stabbing, police said.

'œThe motive for all attacks remains under investigation," a police statement said. 'œHowever, detectives believe the stabbings were unprovoked and the suspect and victims did not know each other."