They Saw Nothing

Police are investigating what they believe to be a gang-related stabbing that occurred behind an apartment complex on Camino Ruiz in Mira Mesa on Friday, September 18.

According to police radio traffic, just before 10:30 p.m. a Hispanic male and two female juveniles were walking on Flanders Drive near Mesa Verde Park when a car full of Asian males approached them and issued a gang challenge to the male. The passengers from the vehicle then supposedly chased the group to a nearby apartment complex where a fight ensued and the 18-year-old Hispanic male was stabbed.

The victim was taken to a nearby hospital by friends and is expected to survive. Officers went to the hospital to interview the victim and the female juveniles he was with, while other units appeared at the stabbing scene to find potential witnesses.

"We talked to a couple of people at the park about the same time the victim said the stabbing occurred,” commented an officer over the radio, “and they saw nothing.”

Just after midnight, police received a telephone call from a nearby hospital regarding a patient that was seeking treatment for a head wound. The patient, described as a Vietnamese or Lao male, claimed that he injured himself while skating. Police radio chatter implicated the patient as a possible part of the “Asian half” of the stabbing incident. Officers were dispatched to interview the patient shortly thereafter. By Saturday morning, no arrests had been made.