A man repeatedly stabbed a 62-year-old man through an open car window as the older man sat inside the vehicle at a park, Torrance police said Monday.
On Oct. 3, Joseph Mejia, 25, allegedly stabbed the victim with a large knife in what police have described as an “unprovoked attack” at El Retiro Park, which borders Torrance and Redondo Beach.
Officers responded to the location at 126 Vista Del Parque just before 8 p.m. and found the victim suffering from stab wounds to his upper torso and head area, according to police.
First responders with the Torrance Fire Department treated the victim at the scene and took him to a nearby hospital, police said.
According to police, the victim was waiting for a friend inside his parked car when the assailant walked up to the driver’s side window and started attacking him.
Mejia fled when the victim screamed and honked his horn while being assaulted, police said.
The victim and witnesses provided police with a description of the attacker and told officers what direction he fled in, leading to the identification of Mejia as the suspect, according to police.
Torrance police officers found Mejia in the 1800 block of Pacific Coast Highway upon searching the area, authorities said. Mejia was arrested on suspicion of attempting to kill the man, police said.
“Detectives later filed the charges of attempted murder with great bodily injury with the Los Angeles
County District Attorney’s office,” the Torrance Police Department said in a news release.
KTLA has reached out to the DA’s office for confirmation of whether charges have been filed.
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