Police are searching for a knife-wielding man who assaulted three people Tuesday inside the library of a historic Gold Rush town in central California.
The Auburn Police Department said in a statement on its Facebook page that the three people were “injured by a suspect with a knife.”
The extent of their injuries and the motive for the attack were not immediately known. Two were treated at a hospital.
Police shut the Placer County Library after the attack and asked the public for help locating the suspect, who initially fled on foot.
Police described the suspect as a black male about 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds wearing a black zip-up sweatshirt, black shorts and black shoes.
Melinda Lacey, of Auburn, told KXTV of Sacramento that she regularly stops at the library with her children and was shocked.
“It’s just quiet and nice, and we’ve never seen anything like this before,” she said.
Auburn is about 120 miles (190 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.