Manhattan Beach cigar-shop worker stabbed in throat in apparent robbery
A male employee of a cigar shop in Manhattan Beach was stabbed in the throat and rushed to the hospital Thursday afternoon after an apparent robbery, authorities said.
Manhattan Beach police said the 25-year-old victim was held up with a long-barreled shotgun at the Cigar and Smoke Shop by a man in a shirt and tie demanding money.
The two got into a struggle and the suspect handcuffed the employee in the back room.
“At one point the suspect pulls out a knife and cuts the employee across the throat,” Sgt. Ron Walker said.
The suspect left the shop at 1751 Artesia Boulevard with a silver box containing cash, and remained at large by Thursday early evening.
The victim was able to separate himself to whatever he was cuffed to, and wandered outside, with the cuffs still dangling from his wrist. Employees from a nearby Verizon shop found him covered in blood and sat him down in a chair.
Rescue crews arrived at the scene around 4:10 p.m. to find the young man on the sidewalk.
“He’d come out looking for help,” said Manhattan Beach Fire Dept. Battalion Chief Ken Shuck.
A police officer was applying pressure to the man’s wound when medics arrived.
The man was taken to the trauma center at Harbor UCLA Medical Center. He is in serious condition but his injuries are not life-threatening, Shuck said.
Police described the suspect as a 5-foot-6 black male with a mustache who appeared to be in his mid-twenties. rob.kuznia@dailybreeze.com