[ad_1]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CA) – Sirhan Sirhan, jailed for over 50 years for the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was hospitalized Friday after being stabbed by one of his comrades in a San Diego jail.
According to a statement from the Department of Penitentiary Affairs and State Rehabilitation, the knife attack took place Friday afternoon at the Richard J. Donovan Prison, near San Diego.
"The police reacted quickly and found a detainee wounded by a stab and was taken to an outside hospital for treatment and is in a stable state," the statement said.
The statement did not name Sirhan, but a directly informed government source confirmed to the Associated Press that he was the victim. The source spoke on condition of anonymity, referring to the regulation of the prison.
The stab was first reported by TMZ.
Prison officials said that the alleged perpetrator had been identified and isolated from the rest of the prison population pending the opening of an investigation.
Sirhan, 75, was convicted of shooting at Kennedy shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, immediately after the New York senator proclaimed the victory in the California Democratic presidential primaries the day before.
Kennedy had just finished his victory speech in front of enthusiastic supporters at the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel when he decided to wander through the hotel kitchen. He stopped to shake hands with a busboy who had brought him food in his room the day before he was shot in the head. He died the next day.
Sirhan was sentenced to death at the origin. But when California briefly banned capital punishment, his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. He has been denied parole on several occasions.
Five passersby were injured during the shooting. Rosey Grier, Los Angeles Rams football champion, Olympic champion Rafer Johnson and others fought the murder weapon.
Over the years, Sirhan has claimed not to remember the shooting or his initial confession.
As a high-level prisoner, Sirhan had previously been held in a protective unit at the Corcoran State Prison in northern California. After telling the authorities several years ago that he would prefer to be housed in the general prison population, he was transferred to the Richard J. Donovan Penitentiary Institution.
___
Associate press correspondent John Rogers in Los Angeles contributed to this story.
[ad_2]
Source link