Four stabbed during fracas
GLENDALE — Four reputed gang members were stabbed Monday night after allegedly instigating a brawl with a group of men and women who were strolling around a South Glendale neighborhood, police said.
A man who got caught up in the incident was in a coma Tuesday morning from blunt-force trauma to his head, but later awoke and began talking, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. The four reputed gang members suffered multiple stab wounds and were taken to Los Angeles-USC Medical Center, he added.
Three alleged gang members, one of whom is a teenager, were arrested in connection with the stabbing incident, which has prompted Police Chief Ron De Pompa to deploy gang and Special Enforcement Detail detectives to the area to eliminate any gang problems, Lorenz said.
“We are not going to let a gang root themselves in a community and put the fear of God into people,” he said.
Police are investigating the fight, which broke out about 11:23 p.m. Monday after the gang members left a birthday party and began walking along the 500 block of Vine Street, Lorenz said.
Police did not release the identities of those involved, saying they did not want to compromise an ongoing investigation.
The men, who allegedly belong to a Highland Park gang, came across a group of men and women. They asked them for cigarettes and began harassing them, Lorenz said. All of those involved reside in Glendale, he added.
At some point during the confrontation, a fight ensued.
“We want to make it’s safe for people walking down the street,” Lorenz said. “Unfortunately…it does make you shudder.”
Once the fight started, calls poured into the Police Department about the incident.
When officers arrived, they discovered both parties were attempting to flee, Lorenz said. They also found the stabbing victims — one of which suffered from internal bleeding.
The Highland Park gang has been trying to claim certain communities as its territory, and have left several graffiti marks in Glendale, Lorenz said.
“We are not going to tolerate it,” he said.