SANTA MONICA—On Monday, May 7, at approximately 1:45 p.m., the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) responded to a call to the intersection of Main and Olympic regarding a robbery and stabbing involving a group of teenagers near Tongva Park.

The SMPD indicated in a news release that a homeless man was lying on a park bench when the group of juveniles approached and took the victim’s cellphone and ran away.

The victim approached a lone juvenile from the group and took her cell phone to use as leverage to get his cellphone back.

Tongva Park

The teens returned in large numbers and a fight transpired, where the homeless man and another victim who attempted to intervene in the fight were injured by stab wounds.

The Santa Monica Fire Department (SMFD) treated the victims and transported them to an area hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Joseph Zachariah Theus, 19, of Los Angeles was booked for providing false identification to a police officer, cited, and released.

Authorities took a female juvenile into custody who was booked for robbery, and one male juvenile was taken into custody and booked for robbery. A second male juvenile was taken into custody and charged with robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. Several knives were confiscated at the scene.

The SMPD is asking anyone with information on the incident to contact Detective Haro at 310-458-8432 or the Watch Commander on call (24 hours) at 310-458-8426