A 22-year-old Berkeley man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a stabbing downtown Sunday evening, authorities report.
Police were called to the stabbing, in the parking lot between Civic Center Park and City Hall, at 6:50 p.m. Sunday, said Lt. David Lindenau of the Berkeley Police Department.
Lindenau said officers responded quickly to the report, some on foot and some in their vehicles, because the police station is right across the street from where the incident took place. Witnesses pointed officers to a man running through the park up the steps to Old City Hall, just south of the police station.
The man tried to hide behind a ledge at the building, at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, but officers were able to take him into custody without incident, Lindenau said.
Witnesses also pointed police to the City Hall rooftop, on the east side of the park, where the man had thrown the knife used in the stabbing before he tried to run away, Lindenau said.
He said the man initially appeared to be running toward the police department, but then seemed to change course once he realized the station was directly in his path.
The motive for the attack remains a mystery, according to police.
“A lot of people saw it and didn’t want to talk,” said Lindenau. “It’s not really clear what happened.”
The injured man, a 29-year-old listed as transient, was stabbed multiple times in the chest.
He was rushed to Highland Hospital in Oakland for treatment and was still alive as of early Monday morning, police said.
The man who was arrested was identified as Kendall Yazzie, 22, of Berkeley. He is currently on probation in four different cases, according to authorities.
Yazzie was taken to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin due to his behavior at Berkeley Jail. He is scheduled for arraignment Tuesday morning at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.
Yazzie is being held without bail, according to court records online.
