Shoplifting Suspect Stabs Security Guard

A May Co. security guard was stabbed Saturday in a South Coast Plaza parking lot in Costa Mesa after he and another guard tried to apprehend a man they suspected was shoplifting, police said.

Thomas Bruce, 20, of Westminster was in serious but stable condition at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, where he underwent surgery to repair a cut tendon on his left hand and other injuries, hospital officials said.

Bruce and another guard had chased the suspected shoplifter from the store, Costa Mesa Police Lt. Leslie Harrison said.

The man tried to get into a car in the May Co. parking lot, and as Bruce and a female guard approached, the man pulled a knife and cut Bruce across his left hand.

Harrison said the suspect then fled on foot, jumping a parking lot fence.