Temecula Walmart Stabbing Attack Leaves 1 Dead: Police [UPDATED]

TEMECULA, CA — One person is dead Wednesday after a stabbing attack at the Temecula Walmart, sheriff's officials say. The assault — now a murder investigation — was reported around 12:15 p.m. at the location in the 32000 block of Temecula Valley Parkway, near Butterfield Stage Road, after a fight between two men started elsewhere and continued onto the superstore's property, officials report.

"We had a disagreement that ended up in an assault," sheriff's Sgt. Steve Fredericks told Patch outside the Temecula store on Wednesday afternoon. "We had somebody that was severely injured; they were transported to a local medical center."

The victim, whose identity was not released, died there.

According to sheriff's officials, "an altercation" between the two men started somewhere "outside of the Walmart property" and continued into the store's parking lot. It was there that one of the men stabbed the other.

"One of the males sustained an injury consistent with a stab wound," police said in a news release.

As for the other man, police say that "responding officers detained a male adult as a person of interest."

Officials from the sheriff's homicide bureau and the Temecula Police Department cordoned off an area of the Walmart parking lot following the attack. The store remained open following the stabbing, but several shoppers who were parked near the crime scene could not take their vehicles home due to the police investigation.

As of 7 p.m., the "person of interest" had not yet been arrested, and the scene — along with about a dozen other vehicles — remained blocked off, officials tell Patch.

"There are no outstanding suspects in this incident and this was not a dispute regarding a parking stall," police said, addressing rumors that the altercation was a result of people fighting for a parking spot.

Investigators were expected to remain at the location for several hours.

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