Cops: Four stabbed in 24 hours in Philly

FOUR PEOPLE WERE stabbed over a 24-hour period this weekend in Philadelphia and motives for the violence range from broken hearts to fights, according to police.

The latest stabbing occurred around 3:30 a.m. yesterday inside the Moonlight Cuisine Restaurant Lounge on Limekiln Pike near Haines Street in West Oak Lane.

Police said a 29-year-old man was stabbed twice in the left side of his chest by another patron with whom he was fighting. The victim was taken to Einstein Medical Center in critical condition. The suspect remained on the loose. Police described him as a black man with a Jamaican accent who is 5-10 and between 160 and 180 pounds.

Love gone awry appears to be behind a stabbing around 3:09 a.m. Saturday, police said. A 36-year-old man who was at his house on Market Street near 57th in West Philly with an "unknown female companion" received a surprise phone call from his ex-wife, who asked him to go to the front door "so they could talk," police said.

Although everybody knows that nothing good happens with an ex after 2 a.m., the man went to his front door anyway, and when he opened it, his ex-wife stabbed him once in the shoulder with a steak knife, police said.

The man was treated for a large cut to his shoulder at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition, authorities said.

The identity of the ex-wife, who fled from the scene, was not released.

Finally, police did not release the motive or the name of a suspect in two stabbings believed to have been committed by the same man early Saturday morning.

At 4 a.m. that day, cops responded to 17th and Walnut streets in Center City, where they encountered a 31-year-old man who told them just before he passed out that he'd been stabbed in the stomach at 13th and Walnut. He was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.

Meanwhile, officers who responded to Jefferson University Hospital took a report from another stabbing victim, a 27-year-old man who said that he was stabbed twice in the stomach by a man with whom he had argued on St. James Street near 13th, around the corner from the other alleged stabbing. His condition was not immediately available.

Police said they are only looking for one offender in both cases. They described him as a black man with a caramel complexion and a medium build, about 23 years old and around 5-7. He wore a purple-hooded sweatshirt and a tan jacket, authorities said.

Tipsters should call the Police Department's tip line at 215-686-8477.

- Stephanie Farr