By TRACY BLOOM AND MARK KONO
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Los Angeles, CA (KTLA) -- A search is underway for the man who stabbed and killed a faculty member on the Cal State Fullerton campus Monday, the first day of the university's academic year, police said.
Officers responded to the 600 block of Nutwood Avenue around 8:30 a.m. to a report of a man down and bleeding from the head, according to Fullerton Police Department Lt. Jon Radus.
When they arrived, officers found the victim -- an Asian man in his late 50s -- inside in an Infiniti sedan in the parking lot south of College Park building, Radus said. The man had stab wounds all over his body.
He was pronounced dead at the scene. Radus did not identify the victim, but said he was a faculty member who was a retired annuitant and had returned to campus. He worked in international student registration.
A motive for the fatal stabbing was not immediately known, but police do not believe the incident was a random attack.
“There is obviously the belief at this particular point in time that the faculty member … was targeted,” Radus said. “Of course that will be part of our investigation.”
Cal State Fullerton police and the Orange County Sheriff's Department are also investigating.
The assailant was last seen heading eastbound on Nutwood Avenue.
He was described as an Asian man in his mid-20s with black hair, who was wearing a black shirt and black pants, according to Radus.
"Do not confront suspect," university officials said in a statement.
The homicide took place amid preparations for the beginning of the 2019-2020 academic year, which started Monday, and the fall semester. Classes are set to begin Saturday.
Anyone with information is urged to call Fullerton police at 714-738-8600.
