By Lookout Staff

January 13, 2023 -- A man was stabbed outside a home for the mentally ill in Santa Monica Tuesday, furthering a trend that has seen knives increasingly used in local crimes.

Officers responded to a call at around 10:45 p.m. reporting a stabbing at The Manor, a residential facility for mentally ill and developmentally disabled adults at 1905 Pico Boulevard, but found no victim, according to police.

After searching the area, officers found the victim several blocks away at 19th Street and Delaware Avenue, according to police.

The victim -- who had been stabbed -- appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis or was under the influence of drugs, or both, police said.

The victim's state made it difficult for officers to obtain coherent information about what had taken place, according to police.

The victim was taken to the UCLA Medical Center in Westwood where it was the determined the injury was not life-threatening.

Officers identified a crime scene on the sidewalk in front of the Burger King next door to The Manor, police said. No suspects have been identified.

Knives have become a common weapon used in local crimes, particularly among tthe homeless.

On August 1, a fatal stabbing in the courtyard of the Main Library involving two homeless men marked the first homicide in Santa Monica in 2022 ("Man Fatally Stabbed in Library Courtyard," August 1, 2022).

On October 24, two men were stabbed in unrelated incidents -- one took place near the entrance to the Pier, the other near the Ken Edwards Center ("Police Investigate Two Stabbings Downtown," October 25, 2022).

And on November 17, police arrested a homeless man suspected of stabbing two men on the beach in Ocean Park -- one by a public restroom, the other on the bike path ("Homeless Man Arrested after Stabbing Two at Santa Monica Beach ," November 18, 2022).