Break-In Victim Flees to Call Police; Suspect Held

A man armed with three butcher knives broke into a Torrance apartment early Wednesday and stabbed one of five people inside before another of the victims escaped and called police, authorities said.

The suspect, Salatielu Ifopo, 25, was persuaded by police to surrender after he fled into his own apartment in the same building were the attack occurred.

Police were called to the apartment in the 16100 block of Van Ness Avenue about 4:45 a.m. after a woman jumped out a second-story bedroom window and fled to a neighbor’s, Sgt. Jim Herren said. The woman, who suffered minor injuries in her fall, told police that the man had broken into the apartment and had begun tying up the occupants. Herren said one woman was stabbed in the side during the apparent attempted robbery.