The suspect who was arrested for allegedly stabbing a bus driver in Venice was identified on Friday.
Los Angeles police arrested Mark Charbonneaux, 60, for assault with a deadly weapon following the Thursday stabbing.
Officers responded to the 1700 block of Main Street at around 2:05 p.m.
Police discovered the MTA bus driver had parked and exited the bus to inspect the vehicle’s exterior part. That’s when the Charbonneaux suddenly approached the driver and stabbed him in the back without provocation, said LAPD.
Arriving officers located the suspect at the scene and took him into custody. The bus driver was transported to the hospital and remained in stable condition on Friday night.
Charbonneaux was treated at the hospital for injuries unrelated to the stabbing or his arrest, police said. He was later cleared and released into police custody.
LAPD discovered that prior to officers’ arrival, a nearby security guard used pepper spray on Charbonneaux during the incident.
While arresting Charbonneaux, they found a four-inch knife believed to be used in the stabbing.
This incident marks the second Metro bus driver to be stabbed in just under a month.
In May, a 61-year-old bus driver was stabbed by a teenager in Woodland Hills. The 17-year-old suspect repeatedly stabbed the driver in the chest, neck and back after a verbal argument about “fare evasion,” investigators said. The teen fled the scene, but was captured by police a day later.
Other recent attacks within the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority include the assault of a 53-year-old woman on Metro’s A Line on May 17, and the fatal stabbing of a 25-year-old man in April, also on the A Line.