Los Angeles police have arrested a suspect in the stabbing of an anti-vaccination protester in downtown Los Angeles last month, according to LAPD Chief Michel Moore.
An investigation into a second stabbing, of a counter-protester, remains ongoing, Moore said.
Moore, speaking on KTLA- TV Channel 5 on Thursday morning, said LAPD investigators made the arrest Wednesday night. He touted it as proof that the LAPD was pursuing perpetrators of protest violence.
“Our arrest last night demonstrates that we’ll put whatever resources we need to identify those responsible for such violence and bring them to the criminal justice system,” Moore said.
Moore did not identify the suspect and provided few other details. An LAPD spokesman said more information would be released later Thursday.
Protests around some of the nation’s most fraught political issues are devolving into street fights in L.A., and police have struggled to respond.
Police previously released images of a suspect clad in all black with a blade in his hand in the days after the Aug. 14 attack, asking the public for help in identifying him. The victim of the stabbing suffered a punctured lung and a lacerated heart in the incident, police said, but was expected to survive.
The stabbing was one of two that occurred during a violent street brawl between anti-vaccination demonstrators and counter-protesters near City Hall and LAPD headquarters on Aug. 14.
The brawl was one of a growing number of violent confrontations between protest crowds that have erupted in L.A. in recent months and sparked criticism of the LAPD for its response.
Video shared by anti-vaccination protesters and their supporters captured the stabbing of the anti-vaccination demonstrator. Counter-protesters, meanwhile, shared other video capturing a second stabbing, in which a counter-protester was stabbed while being beaten by several anti-vaccination protesters.
When confronted with the latter footage, police said they were also investigating that stabbing but that the victim — who appeared to be wearing protective gear — hadn’t come forward. On Thursday, Moore said that victim still had not identified himself to police.
The LAPD made no arrests at the time of the fight, despite the fact that officers were on hand as the attacks occurred and rushed into the street in riot gear to separate the two sides.
After the event, counter-protesters and independent journalists accused the LAPD of showing a bias in favor of the anti-vaccination protesters and other extremists, including Proud Boys, who they said started the fight.
Others on the right accused counter-protesters — who they labeled “antifa” — for starting the violence.
An analysis by The Times found evidence that the brawl began after a member of the anti-vaccination crowd shoved a counter-protester who had confronted him about harassing a group of kids on skateboards.
Moore has denied bias in favor of either side of protesters, and said it was the LAPD’s intention to maintain peace while allowing protesters to exercise their 1st Amendment rights — regardless of their political position.
