LOCAL : Woman With Knife Arrested at NBC

Police arrested a Canadian woman who was found carrying an 11-inch ornamental knife in a backpack after she had been loitering for three days at NBC Studios, the Burbank Police Department said today.

Krystyna Marenchin, 39, of St. Catherines, Ontario, was being held at the Burbank jail on suspicion of carrying a concealed dangerous weapon, Lt. Gordon Bowers said.

Marenchin was arrested Wednesday after wandering for three days near the line that forms daily for the “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson,” Bowers said. Authorities believe that Marenchin, who was carrying a bedroll in addition to the backpack, slept in Buena Vista Park next to the studios.

Authorities said there is no evidence that Marenchin intended to use the knife against anyone at the studios. Marenchin told police she needed the knife for protection. She did not stand in line to gain entrance to the show, Bowers said.

Burbank Studios security guards called police at 4:25 p.m. Wednesday after Marenchin refused to leave, Bowers said. She consented to a search of her backpack, Bowers said.

The guards asked her to leave, Bowers said, because they were concerned that it was possibly related to an incident Tuesday at the Lorimar Studios in Culver City, in which a man crashed through a security gate and took his life after firing a shotgun at a sound stage.

Asked why she was hanging out at the studios, she reportedly told police she was visiting the Los Angeles area and “was just interested in seeing the studios.”