Three Halloween-masked suspects robbed residents of a Placentia home at gunpoint Wednesday, triggering a struggle that left one of them hospitalized in critical condition with stab wounds, police said.
Police were dispatched about 8:15 a.m. on a report of a stabbing in the 700 block of Primrose Avenue, according to Placentia police Capt. Eric Point.
When the officers arrived, they found a suspect in the home invasion robbery with multiple stab wounds to his back, Point said. The robbery happened moments before the stabbing around the corner in the 300 block of Twilight Street, he said.
As the robbers tried to run away, one of the victims chased them and a struggle ensued that led to the suspect's stab wounds, Point said.
The two other robbers fled, but later returned in a vehicle, which was pointed out by a witness, he said. Police caught up to the vehicle near Chapman Avenue and the 57 Freeway and arrested Eduardo Lopez-Morales, 18, of Fullerton, who was booked on suspicion of robbery, Point said, but the passenger in the vehicle escaped.
The unidentified suspect who was stabbed was in critical condition and required surgery at UC Irvine Medical Center, but was expected to survive, Point said.
Anyone with information helpful to detectives was asked to call police at (714) 993-8146. Orange County Crime Stoppers will accept anonymous tips at (855) TIP-OCCS.
