Berkeley Safeway store employee stabbed, hospitalized

BERKELEY (BCN) An employee at a Safeway grocery store in North Berkeley has been hospitalized after being stabbed at the store shortly before 4 p.m. today, police said.

The stabbing at the Safeway at 1444 Shattuck Place, between Vine and Rose streets, was reported to police at 3:57 p.m. and had occurred 5 minutes earlier, at 3:52 p.m., Berkeley police spokesman Sgt. Andrew Frankel said.

The suspect fled the scene before officers responded to the stabbing, according to Frankel.

The Safeway employee has been transported to Highland Hospital in Oakland for treatment, Frankel said. 

No other details were immediately available.