A woman was stabbed by a man in the 6400 block of Long Beach Boulevard late Thursday night, suffering non-life-threatening injuries before being rushed to a hospital as the attacker fled into the darkness. Police have not identified the suspect or determined a motive, and no arrest had been made as of Friday afternoon.
Long Beach Police Lt. Eric Gold said the stabbing occurred around 11 p.m., according to MyNewsLA.com. Officers and paramedics transported the injured victim to a hospital while investigators searched for leads on the suspect, who authorities said fled the scene before officers arrived. Police said no further information on the suspect was immediately available.
A preliminary police dispatch report indicated that a suspicious vehicle was seen departing the area at a high rate of speed shortly after the stabbing, according to a video posted by Qualitymoment Productions. It remains unclear whether that vehicle was directly connected to the suspect's escape, and investigators have not confirmed a link between the two.
A Corridor Under Watch
The stabbing happened along a stretch of Long Beach Boulevard that has drawn repeated police attention this year. In March, Long Beach police ran a month-long public safety operation targeting human trafficking and street-level crime on the corridor, an effort that included the arrest of an armed robbery suspect who threatened a worker in the same 6400 block, Long Beach Local News reported at the time in a story Hoodline covered as the Long Beach Blvd sting. The block has continued to see coordinated patrols from specialized units since that sweep.
It is not the first stabbing tied to the same stretch of road this year. In February, police investigated another stabbing in the 6400 block, this time along East Pacific Coast Highway, in which a male victim suffered a non-life-threatening lower-body wound during a dispute, according to the City of Long Beach. That victim initially declined medical transport before later getting himself to a hospital.
Part of a Broader Summer Pattern
Thursday's attack also echoes a stabbing just 12 days earlier, on August 8, when a man was hospitalized with an upper-body stab wound following an early-morning fight in the 6000 block of Atlantic Avenue in North Long Beach. That assailant also fled before officers arrived, near the Long Beach Police Department's North Patrol Division headquarters, the Long Beach Watchdog reported.
Citywide, knife violence has remained a persistent problem through the summer. In July alone, Long Beach police responded to five stabbings or attempted stabbings, along with two homicides and 10 non-fatal shootings, according to Long Beach Local News, a stretch of violence that fueled community calls for more proactive policing.
The trend lines up with statistics showing aggravated assaults, which include stabbings, have stayed elevated even as gun violence has eased. A midyear 2026 report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association found Long Beach recorded 1,029 aggravated assaults in the first half of the year, nearly matching the 1,024 tallied over the same period in 2025. Mayor Rex Richardson noted in January that while homicides fell 26% and shootings dropped 36% in 2025, aggravated assaults rose 11.2% year-over-year and drove an overall 7.7% increase in violent crime.
Potential Charges if Suspect Is Caught
Should investigators identify and arrest the suspect, California law treats assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, including knife stabbings, as a wobbler offense under Penal Code § 245(a)(1), according to Eisner Gorin LLP. That means prosecutors could pursue the case as a felony punishable by two, three, or four years in state prison, or as a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in county jail, depending on the weapon used and the extent of the victim's injuries.
A felony conviction under that statute also counts as a serious felony strike under California's Three Strikes law, according to the Hedding Law Firm, meaning a convicted defendant would have to serve at least 85% of any prison sentence imposed.
Long Beach police are asking anyone with information about Thursday's stabbing to contact the department's Violent Crimes Detail at (562) 570-7250 or submit tips through LA Regional Crime Stoppers or the department's online Criminal Incident Dashboard, which was launched to increase public transparency around citywide incident reports.
