Police said the attacker fled after stabbing the woman on California Avenue.
LONG BEACH, CA — A woman was hospitalized after a man approached and stabbed her while she walked late May 28 in the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach, police said.
The stabbing remains under investigation, and police have not announced an arrest or released a suspect description. The case drew attention because authorities said the woman was walking when she was attacked, and because two other violent incidents were reported in Long Beach within hours.
Officers responded at about 10:36 p.m. May 28 to the 4500 block of California Avenue after a report of a stabbing, the Long Beach Police Department said in its May 29 blotter. Officers found an adult woman with stab wounds to her upper and lower body. Long Beach Fire Department paramedics took her to a local hospital, where police said she was in stable condition. Police said the preliminary investigation showed the victim was walking in the area when an adult man approached her, stabbed her and fled.
The department did not release the woman’s name, age or city of residence. Police also did not say whether she knew the attacker. The motive and suspect information remained under investigation, according to the department. In the blotter, police described the information as preliminary and not a formal investigative report. The attack happened in a residential and commercial part of Bixby Knolls, a North Long Beach area with apartment buildings, homes, shops and restaurants along nearby corridors. Investigators were expected to review witness statements and any surveillance video from nearby properties as they worked to identify the man who fled.
The California Avenue stabbing was the first of three violent incidents listed by Long Beach police from the overnight period. At about 2:33 a.m. May 29, officers responded to a no-hit shooting in the 2300 block of East Market Street. Police said a male victim had been in a physical fight with another man when the suspect pulled out a gun and fired one shot before leaving. The victim was not struck, and police reported no other injuries. About 36 minutes later, at 3:09 a.m., officers responded to a separate stabbing in the 3200 block of East Anaheim Street. A male victim told police another man stabbed him and fled. Paramedics took him to a hospital for treatment of a non-life-threatening wound to his upper body.
Police did not say the three incidents were connected. In each case, the suspect fled before officers announced an arrest. The department said the motive, circumstances or suspect information remained under investigation for the East Anaheim Street stabbing, and the Market Street shooting investigation also remained open. The cluster of calls added to concern among residents because the first victim was attacked while walking and because police had few public details about the person they were seeking. Local reporting identified the California Avenue case as a Bixby Knolls stabbing and said the woman was treated for multiple stab wounds.
The next steps in the California Avenue case center on identifying the attacker and determining why the woman was stabbed. No charges had been filed as of the latest public police update because no suspect had been named. Detectives may rely on nearby camera footage, physical evidence, witness accounts and medical records to build a timeline. The police department’s public notice did not list a planned news conference or briefing. It also did not say whether investigators had recovered a weapon. Until a suspect is identified, key facts remain unknown, including the direction the man fled, what he was wearing and whether the attack was targeted or random.
Residents in the area described the incident online as unsettling because it happened near where people live and walk at night. One local account said the attack occurred in front of the victim’s building and that police took witness statements after the stabbing. Police have not confirmed all details in those accounts, and the official summary released May 29 remains limited. The department said only that the woman was walking, a male suspect approached her and stabbed her before leaving the area. The brief police wording left the public with a narrow but serious set of confirmed facts: a woman was attacked, she survived, and the person who stabbed her had not been publicly identified.
The woman remained in stable condition after being taken to a hospital, police said. The case remained open June 1, with investigators still working to determine the suspect’s identity, the motive and the full circumstances of the attack.
Author note: Last updated June 1, 2026.