For the third time in two weeks, a knife-wielding assailant wounded a pedestrian Tueday in an apparently random and unprovoked attack in Chula Vista, authorities reported.
The latest in the series of non-fatal assaults, all believed to have been carried out by the same man, occurred shortly after noon in the 300 block of K Street, according to police. The victim told investigators he was walking along the roadside when the assailant drove up in the opposite direction, pulled to an abrupt stop in the middle of the street and jumped out of his still-running vehicle, Lt. Fritz Reber said.
The suspect, who was wearing a black T-shirt and a dark baseball cap, grabbed the pedestrian from behind and knifed him once in the back before getting back into the car and speeding off.
The victim described the perpetrator as a thin, roughly 6-foot-tall white man with tattoos on his neck and one of his arms.
Police believe the same assailant also attacked a woman in a wheelchair in the 1600 block of Industrial Boulevard on the afternoon of Nov. 17 and jumped a man behind a Target store in the 1200 block of Broadway on the morning of Nov. 23.
The victims, each of whom suffered a single non-life-threatening stab wound to the back, told detectives they did not recognize the perpetrator. Surveillance cameras have captured images of the attacker’s car, believed to be a 2010- to 2013-model gray or silver Ford Mustang with chrome rims and possibly a rear spoiler.
Authorities are particularly concerned about the series of assaults due to their seemingly random nature, the lieutenant said.
Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact the Chula Vista Police Department at (619) 691-5151 or online at www.chulavistaca.gov/departments/police-department.
