A doctor and two nurses were stabbed in the emergency ward of a Los Angeles hospital, authorities said.
Officials said that the violence broke out at Encino Hospital Medical Center on Friday afternoon and that the attacker remained barricaded inside the facility.
The victims, an Emergency Department doctor and two staff nurses, have been described as being in a critical condition and were rushed to a trauma centre, but officials said is a preliminary assessment, according to NBC News.
“Three injured at Encino Hospital were two staff nurses and an ED physician who were all taken to the nearest trauma center. The hospital is currently on lockdown,” Elizabeth Nikels, vice president of communications for the Prime Healthcare hospital system, said in a statement.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and our thoughts and prayers are with all involved.”
Los Angeles Police Department say they were called out at around 3.50pm and found two people with stab wounds at the scene.
Nicholas Prange, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson, later told The Los Angeles Times that three people were taken to a trauma centre in critical condition.
A police source told the newspaper that at least one medical staff member was among the injured.
“Preliminary info: Reports of multiple people stabbed at Encino Hospital. The suspect is believed to be contained in a room within the hospital. There is a large police presence. A Public Information Officer is en route & we will provide more details as they become available,” LAPD tweeted.
News helicopter footage showed a string of police and firefighters outside Encino Hospital Medical Center, which is in the city’s San Fernando Valley.
The incident took place just days after a gunman killed four people at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, including a doctor who had operated on him for back pain. The shooter turned the gun on himself as police closed in on him.
