UPDATE: Nurses wounded in two separate hospital stabbings in Sylmar, Torrance

Two nurses suffered stab wounds in two separate attacks at UCLA hospitals in Sylmar and Torrance early Sunday, authorities said.
The Sylmar incident took place about 2 a.m. at the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, and about 9:20 a.m. at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said.
There was “no indication” the attacks were related, Lt. Rich Burgoyne of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s County Services Bureau said, however the motives in each remained under investigation.
Romero Carnailla, 26, of Los Angeles was arrested on suspicion of the stabbing at the Sylmar hospital, 14445 Olive View Drive, Burgoyne said.
“(Carnailla) entered the hospital, bypassed the weapons screening area, and fled into the building, away from security and law enforcement officers,” Lt. Denise Stephenson said in a written statement.
“As deputies and officers searched the hospital, they heard a woman scream and went to the source of the outcry,” Stephenson said. “They located the victim, a female adult, and found she was stabbed an unknown number of times in the upper and lower torso.”
The wounded nurse, whose age was not available, was hospitalized in critical condition, officials said.
Carnailla was taken into custody just after the stabbing, however further details of his arrested were not available Sunday afternoon, Burgoyne said.
Officials recovered a knife at the scene, Stephenson added.
A motive in the alleged attack was not known, and it remained under investigation whether the suspect and victim knew one another, Burgoyne said.
Carnailla was being held in lieu of $55,000 bail pending his initial court appearance, officials said. He was receiving medical treatment prior to booking, though officials did not say why.
A second nurse was wounded in a stabbing just over seven hours later at the Torrance hospital campus, authorities said.
0421_NWS_LDN-L-HOSPITALSTAB2Thomas Robert Fredette, 38, of Santee was jailed in connection with the alleged attack at the hospital campus at 1000 West Carson Street, sheriff’s officials said in a written statement.
Fredette went through a weapons screening area, officials said.
“Once inside the hospital, the suspect encountered a group of nurses, grabbed one of them from behind, and stabbed the female victim in the ear with a sharp object,” according to the sheriff’s department statement.
“The victim was able to free herself from the suspect’s grasp and ran away,” the statement continued. The nurse, who suffered injuries not believed to be life threatening, directed deputies to her attacker.
Fredette was taken into custody, and a pencil believed to have been used as the weapon in the stabbing was recovered as evidence.
“The investigation is ongoing and there is no further information at this time, the sheriff’s statement said.
Officials said Fredette was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and was being held in lieu of $30,000 bail pending his initial court appearance, scheduled Tuesday in Torrance Superior Court.

PHOTO of Thomas Fredette courtesy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

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