Update, March 12: Court papers revealed additional details about Sunday’s unprovoked stabbing. The alleged assailant has been charged.
Original story: A 74-year-old Berkeley man was taken to the hospital Sunday night with life-threatening injuries after a stranger stabbed him in the torso as he walked his small dog on University Avenue, authorities report.
The assailant also bit a man who tried to intervene in the attack, police said. Both injured men were taken to the hospital for medical treatment, said Officer Byron White, BPD spokesman, in response to a Berkeleyside inquiry.
Police initially responded at 8:30 p.m. Sunday to the 1300 block of University Avenue, between Acton and Bonar streets, “on a report of two men fighting outside of a residence,” White said.
“When officers arrived, they learned that during the altercation one of the men had stabbed the other man. When a witness heard the commotion and tried to tackle the suspect, the suspect bit the witness and the suspect was able to leave the area,” White said.
Police found the alleged assailant near 10th and Delaware streets, about a half-mile away, White said.
Authorities identified him as 52-year-old Ogun Jumoke and arrested him on suspicion of attempted murder and battery with serious bodily injury. Jumoke has no permanent address, police said.
White said the encounter had started when Jumoke “saw the victim walking on University Avenue along with his small dog” and took issue with it.
A reader told Berkeleyside police closed eastbound University from Bonar to Acton until about 11 p.m. during the investigation. She said she saw “multiple firetrucks, BPD patrol cars and ambulances” going down University after the attack.
Jumoke is being held without bail at Berkeley Jail and is set for arraignment Wednesday at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse, according to court records online.
Note: Berkeleyside updated this story after publication to include injury severity. BPD also said Jumoke is being held without bail, contrary to what booking records online show. The story has been updated.
