SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Springfield hospital employee was stabbed while she was working Friday.
Police Lt. Jennifer Charleston described the woman's injuries as non-life threatening. She said the attack happened around 7:15 a.m. in a stairwell at the Mercy Surgery Center, which is located about a block south of the main hospital.
Officers had everyone exit the surgery center so they could search the building to make sure it was safe, Lt. Steve Schwind told the Springfield News-Leader. The police department announced around noon that the suspect, a man, was in custody.
Police said the assault stemmed from a domestic situation. Schwind said police suspect that the attacker is someone who had been in a romantic relationship with the victim.
Charleston said she didn't immediately have details about the man, including his name, age or where he was taken into custody. She also didn't know the woman's job at the hospital.
Mercy Springfield spokeswoman Sonya Kullmann told the News-Leader that the entire hospital facility was briefly placed on lockdown before reopening. But Kullmann said that she anticipated that the surgery center would be closed for the rest of the day.