Two people are in custody and police are looking for a third suspect after a man was attacked with a hatchet Monday afternoon in the washroom of the downtown Scotia Place basement food court.

The victim was taken to hospital following the 2 p.m. attack.

Edmonton police spokeswoman Anna Batchelor said the man was in serious but stable condition. The injured man was bloodied but breathing when he was taken to hospital.

Police would not disclose the type of weapon used in the attack.

Yellow crime scene tape was strung across the hallway to the food court washrooms after the incident, while two people in the food court wrote out statements for police.

Upstairs, numerous police officers reviewed video surveillance footage.

Witness Ray Houston was eating lunch from Y-Not Indian in the food court when he noticed a group of young people walk in from Central Station LRT.

Five men and one woman sat in the food court, Houston said.

They were making “quite a racket,” Houston said, then a few of the men went in to the washroom.

A few minutes later, a man in his 40s came out screaming.

“He said he was assaulted. He was full of blood, it was coming from his head,” Houston said. “He was screaming ‘these guys assaulted me with a hatchet.’”

Houston did not see what transpired before the attack.

Houston and a woman in the food court rushed to help the man until paramedics arrived. He had a stab wound to his abdomen and two stab wounds on his head, Houston said.

Subway employees provided a first aid kit and napkins to stop the injured man’s bleeding.

Houston said he saw the attackers leave the food court as he was helping the injured man.

“They left up the stairs, like nothing happened. They just walked away,” he said.

He’s disappointed more people in the food court did not intervene.

“Edmonton, wake up,” Houston said. “Everyone could have stopped them.”

cklingbeil@edmontonjournal.com

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