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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Police today surrounded an apartment building in the downtown Los Angeles area for more than nine hours before determining that a man accused of stabbing a romantic rival with a sword wasn't holed up inside as they thought, an officer said.
A woman was walking to her apartment in the 200 block of East Washington Boulevard with the victim around 3 a.m. when the assailant came out of her residence and stabbed the man before going back inside, said Officer Irma Mota of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations office.
Mota said the suspect, his victim and the woman -- whose names were not immediately released -- make up a “love triangle.''
The victim was taken to a hospital with injuries of unknown severity as police, believing the suspect was inside the residence, summoned a SWAT team that surrounded the building.
A tactical alert was implemented in the Central Bureau, which allows commanders to hold officers over past the end of their shifts if necessary. Also because of the police activity, Metro Blue Line service was interrupted between the Grand/San Pedro Station and the Washington Station, and buses were brought in to ferry rail passengers through the area.
About 12:30 p.m., police determined that the man was not inside the building, and they called off the tacticalaAlert. Metro Blue Line service was restored, and investigators continued their efforts to find the suspect.