A man was stabbed by his daughter's boyfriend on the 7300 block of Kester Avenue in Van Nuys Thursday night, leaving him unconscious and not breathing before he was rushed to a hospital. Police officers descended on the residential block with K-9 units and set up a perimeter as they searched for the suspect, who had fled the scene still carrying the knife.
The stabbing happened around 8:02 p.m. Thursday, according to an LAPD spokesperson cited by MyNewsLA.com. The victim was described as unconscious and not breathing at the time, per LAPD, and no further update on his condition had been released. The suspect was described as a Hispanic man with a tattoo on the left side of his face who was wearing glasses.
Suspect Caught Blocks Away Near Lemona Avenue
LAPD took the suspect into custody near Lemona Avenue around midnight following the K-9 search, the outlet reported. The outlet reported that the arrest took place near Lemona Avenue. The outlet also reported that officers searched for the suspect.
The attack falls within the jurisdiction of the LAPD Van Nuys Community Police Station, which operates out of its main facility at 6240 Sylmar Avenue, according to the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council. The station covers roughly 30 square miles and serves more than 325,000 residents across Van Nuys, Valley Glen, and Sherman Oaks under the LAPD's Operations-Valley Bureau, per the Mid-Valley Community Police Council. The Mid-Valley Community Police Council identifies Alex Vargas as Captain III and Karen Leong as Captain I.
A Corridor With a History of Violence
This is not the first violent incident along this stretch of Kester Avenue in recent months. Just five weeks earlier, on August 6, LAPD responded to another stabbing two blocks away on the 7100 block, where a male victim was found conscious but unresponsive outside an apartment building around 1:40 a.m., according to an LAPD report. Further back, in March 2015, LAPD detectives investigated a fatal stabbing on the 6600 block of Kester Avenue, arresting a 41-year-old man on suspicion of murder after he fatally stabbed his girlfriend inside a vehicle, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time; that suspect initially claimed an unknown group had attacked the couple before police disproved his story.
Hoodline previously reported on a separate knife attack near Sherman Oaks in late August, within the same Van Nuys station jurisdiction. LAPD's 2025 citywide review of violent crime found that non-firearm cutting instruments were involved in 47 cases across multi-unit dwellings, single-family homes, and sidewalks, with disputes identified as a primary motive in 47 cases, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Citywide, homicides dropped 14 percent and shooting victims fell 19 percent during 2024 compared to the prior year, per statistics released by the Office of Mayor Karen Bass and LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.
Potential Charges Hinge on Victim's Condition
The legal exposure facing the suspect will depend heavily on how the victim's condition develops. Assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, such as a knife, is a wobbler offense under California Penal Code Section 245(a)(1), punishable as a felony by up to four years in state prison and fines up to $10,000, according to the Law Offices of J. Patrick Carey. Prosecutors determine whether to charge the offense as a misdemeanor or felony based on the weapon type and severity of the injury.
Should investigators establish specific intent to kill, prosecutors could instead pursue attempted murder charges under Penal Code Sections 664 and 187, which the Goldstein Law Group notes carries a potential sentence of up to life in prison with the possibility of parole. That charge would require prosecutors to prove both specific intent to kill and a deliberate step toward completing the crime. No charges had been announced as of Thursday night's arrest, and the victim's ultimate condition remained unknown.
