Two Visalia Holiday Inn Employees Stabbed | ABC30 Fresno

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By ABC30

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Visalia, CA /*Lorraine Hunter*/ was working overnight at the /*Holiday Inn*/ off /*Plaza Drive*/ in /*Visalia*/ when police say she was randomly stabbed by a hotel guest at around 2:30 Friday morning. Hunter works as a clerk near the front desk.

Sgt. Steve Phillips said, "Holiday Inn I mean it's a pretty quiet hotel it's kind of on the outskirts of town so there are very few disturbances and to my memory nothing like this has ever happened at the Holiday Inn."

Police say the suspect, 37-year old /*Wade Allen*/, first attacked a hotel security guard ... who walked out into the side parking lot of the hotel to check on him.

"The security guard went up to talk to him and he'd been involved in some kind of disturbance earlier with someone he was staying with at the hotel," said Sgt. Phillips.

Phillips says the Lake Isabella man stabbed the security guard and then went into the hotel and stabbed Lorraine Hunter.

Sgt. Phillips said, "They were more severe than the security guard he's already been treated and released they both had multiple stab wounds but she had more than the security guard."

Police are looking into whether Allen was on drugs at the time of the stabbing. When officers arrived, they found him wandering around the parking lot and arrested him for attempted murder.

The Holiday Inn is not commenting on the incident but people who came to do business at the hotel Friday were surprised when they heard what happened.

Bill Cox said, "I Was saddened that some security guard doing his job was harmed."

Lorraine Hunter is in fair but stable condition at a hospital in Fresno. A local security company says they've now been hired by Holiday Inn to provide more security at the hotel during the week.