Man in lagoon held on suspicion of stabbing 3

SAN MATEO » An East Palo Alto man has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing three people within about 30 minutes before wading into a lagoon, authorities said.

Alejandro Canche, 19, was booked into San Mateo County Jail on Monday night on multiple counts of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.

San Mateo police were first alerted of a stabbing in the parking lot of BJ’s Restaurant at Bridgepointe Shopping Center about 7:04 p.m. Monday, said spokesperson Michael Haobsh.

Officers found a man — reportedly the boyfriend of Canche’s cousin — who had been stabbed in the neck, Haobsh said.

The two men had been inside the restaurant before coming out to the parking lot.

A motive was not immediately clear, but the victim called the attack “unprovoked,” Haobsh said.

While officers treated the victim on the scene and called paramedics, other officers were dispatched to chase after Canche, whom witnesses saw running toward Highway 92 away from the shopping center.

Meanwhile about 7:36 p.m., police received a call from a cyclist who said he had been stabbed while riding his bike near the waterway that runs between Foster City and San Mateo.

While police treated him, a third victim approached them for help, evidently having been stabbed in the same area while on foot, Haobsh said.

All three victims were taken to a trauma center with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The two attacked near the lagoon didn’t appear to have any connection to Canche, Haobsh said.

Around the same time, another group of officers found Canche wading into the water nearby and behaving “erratically,” Haobsh said, although details of his behavior were not immediately clear.

Canche was arrested without incident and transported to a hospital for a mental evaluation before he was booked into jail.

He remains in custody on no bail.