An investigation is underway after an inmate serving a life sentence at a Los Angeles County prison allegedly attempted to kill two guards over the weekend.
The attack happened Sunday evening around 6:45 p.m., at the California State Prison, Los Angeles County in Lancaster.
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, two guards were stabbed with a shiv as they attempted to do an inspection in the cell of Shuantae Taylor.
“Taylor began stabbing both officers with an improvised weapon. Staff quickly quelled the attack and no other staff members were injured,” CDCR officials said in a news release Monday. “Staff quickly quelled the attack and no other staff members were injured.”
The guards were treated at the scene by medical staff before being transported to an outside medical facility for further treatment. They’ve both since been discharged, officials said.
The suspected weapon was recovered at the scene, and Taylor was transported to a different prison to be placed in restrictive housing.
CDCR officials say the attack is being investigated as an attempted murder, and the case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for potential charges.
Taylor, 43, was sentenced in San Bernardino County in March 2009 to life in prison with the potential for parole. His convictions included rape, criminal threats and force oral copulation.
He received an additional 40-year sentence for firing a gun in an inhabited dwelling, second-degree robbery, witness intimidation, using a hostage as a human shield, and multiple gun violations. That sentence is concurrent to his life sentence, meaning he’ll serve both sentences simultaneously.
In addition to his convictions outside of prison, in May 2019, he was sentenced to four years for aggravated battery on an officer while incarcerated in Kings county; and ten years for battery on a non-prisoner and a peace officer while incarcerated in Kern County.
CDCR says peer support services have been made available to employees at the prison, which houses more than 2,800 inmates in all levels of security from minimum to maximum.