Two Stabbed Inside Lake Forest Home, One Suspect Arrested

LAKE FOREST, CA — A man and a woman were stabbed early Tuesday morning inside a Lake Forest townhome, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Both victims were being treated for "serious but non-life-threatening injuries," the department reported. The case is being treated as "an attempted homicide," officials said.

Deputies arrested Jose Zuniga-Castro, 34 of Lake Forest in the area of the Portola and Marketplace retail center more than an hour after the initial incident, Sheriff's Department Sgt. Dennis Breckner told Patch.

"The initial call came in at approximately 7:38 a.m.," Breckner said. Sheriff's deputies arrived at the home on Rue Fontaine where a man and woman were both found with stab wounds but alive.

A man — later identified as Zuniga-Castro — fled the home through the neighborhood, according to OCSD.

Orange County Fire Authority responded to the scene of the stabbing to find a man and woman with stab wounds, according to fire Capt. Sean Doran. They were both taken by ambulance to nearby Mission Hospital, he said.

Zuniga-Castro managed to break through a perimeter established by officers during the search, before his capture at an area McDonald's parking lot, according to Breckner. Information on what led to the stabbing remains under investigation, and it is not yet known if Zuniga-Castro was armed at the time of his arrest.

Nearby Foothill Ranch Elementary School was temporarily placed on lockdown during the incident. That lockdown was lifted as of 9 a.m. Morning classes at the school were canceled; however, afternoon classes were expected to continue.

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