Local News in Brief : Berserk Intruder Stabs Himself, Police Say

A Reseda man was arrested Friday after he repeatedly stabbed himself and, using his own blood, scrawled across the walls in a Chatsworth house containing a real estate office, police said.

Leonard Renee Bent, 28, was arrested about 9:30 a.m. on suspicion of felony vandalism after police found him nude and “drenched” with blood outside the Winnetka Avenue home, said Lt. Harvey Eubank, Los Angeles watch commander.

Police said the man had parked his red, 1985 Toyota truck on the Simi Valley Freeway and then had run naked from the freeway to the house, crashing through a plate-glass window into the office.

He chased the homeowner, a real estate agent, shouted obscenities and created damage estimated at $5,000, Eubank said.

The woman ran out and called police while the man stabbed himself repeatedly with a pair of six-inch office scissors, Eubank said, adding that the man professed a desire to die and have somebody go with him. Eubank said police suspected the man was under the influence of narcotics.

Police said the man used his own blood to write words like Beatles, Lennon, and sex and to draw crosses on the walls.

Bent was taken to West Park Hospital in Canoga Park, where he underwent surgery for a punctured lung. He was then transferred to the County-USC Medical Center jail ward.