Stabbing suspect identified by SFPD, booked for attempted murder
SAN FRANCISCO - A 34-year-old man has been booked into the San Francisco County Jail for the attempted murder of a San Francisco General Hospital social worker at an HIV ward, police say.
Suspect identified
What we know:
The San Francisco Police Department have identified the suspect, Wilfredo Tortolero Arriechi, as the man who stabbed a 31-year-old social worker at the hospital's HIV care clinic on Thursday.
Police said they responded to the stabbing just after 3 p.m. Arriving officers were told that at 1:39 p.m., that an adult male had stabbed a victim multiple times and was being detained by the San Francisco Sheriff's Department.
The backstory:
The sheriff's department had previously said that less than 10 minutes before the stabbing that hospital staff had requested additional security for a doctor at Ward 86 – the HIV care clinic – because a patient had threatened the doctor. It was later revealed that the stabbing suspect was the person who was making threats.
A sheriff's deputy who had responded to the scene heard a disturbance in the hallway. The deputy intervened when the suspect was stabbing the social worker. The worker sustained several injuries, including to the neck and shoulder. They were taken to the hospital for care where they remain listed in critical condition, hospital officials confirmed on Friday.
The identity of the victim has not been released.
SFPD said their Strategic Investigative Unit has taken the lead in the investigation. Investigators with that unit found probable cause to arrest Arriechi.
The suspect was also booked into jail for assault with a deadly weapon, mayhem and being armed during the commission of a felony.
Police said despite an arrest being made, this is an open and active investigation.
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Social worker stabbed by patient at SF General HIV care clinic
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