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Altercation in South Lake Tahoe sends 4 homeless men to hospital, 1 with life threatening injuries

An altercation at the transit center near The Y sent four men to the hospital Friday.
Ryan Hoffman / Tahoe Daily Tribune

A verbal altercation at the transit center near The Y sent four homeless men to Barton Memorial Hospital Friday evening.

The cause of the argument is still unknown but a witness told police that the incident started as a verbal altercation between three homeless men.

None of the men have been identified. Police were notified of the incident at 5:09 p.m. Friday, according to Sgt. Shannon Laney with the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.

A 45-year-old man was in a verbal argument with a 49-year-old man and a 27-year-old man. At some point the 45-year-old pulled a knife and stabbed the 49-year-old man.

He suffered critical injuries and was take to Barton. He exited surgery around 8:30 p.m.

“He’s expected to survive,” Laney said.

The 27-year-old suffered cuts to his hand and was still at the hospital as of 8:30 p.m.

A 46-year-old man, who also is homeless, intervened in the situation and suffered a blunt force trauma injury to the chest — the cause is unknown. He was discharged Friday evening.

The man accused of pulling the knife was still at Barton Friday night. He is being held overnight for observation. Laney could not comment on the injuries other than to say they did not appear to be life threatening. The man had yet to be placed under arrest.

Police have responded to several altercations involving homeless people at the transit center in the past couple weeks, however, none escalated to the severity of Friday’s incident, Laney said.


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