SEATTLE (AP) — A man has been arrested in connection with a series of random stabbings over two days in Seattle that left nine people injured — five of them Friday afternoon, police said.

“It appears that this incident was one individual over a 38-hour period who committed random attacks,” Deputy Chief Eric Barden said at the scene Friday.

The Friday afternoon stabbings took place in a roughly four-block area of ​​Seattle’s Chinatown-International district.

Witnesses reported a description of the suspect, and officers located him nearby and arrested him, police said. A gun was found near the person who was arrested, and a knife was stabbed in one of the victims, police said.

Four of the victims were taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, and one victim was treated at the scene and released. A Harborview spokesman confirmed four victims were in hospital and said all were in critical condition.

Barden said police suspect the person arrested in connection with Friday’s stabbings is the same person involved in at least four other stabbings that occurred early Thursday. He cited similar suspect descriptions and the random nature of the attacks, but added that the investigation was ongoing.

Thursday’s stabbings in Chinatown began when a 52-year-old woman was found with multiple stab wounds, police said. On Thursday afternoon, a 32-year-old man was found after being stabbed multiple times, and around 8 p.m. a 37-year-old man was stabbed multiple times in the back, police said .

Then, early Friday, police responding to an assault call found a 53-year-old man bleeding profusely from a neck wound. Police followed a trail of blood to a nearby door and unsuccessfully used it as a starting point for police dogs to try to track a suspect.

“I understand everyone is alive,” Barden said of the victims Friday afternoon.

Police said a tenth stabbing Thursday night involved a cellphone robbery in which someone forced open a vehicle door and tried to stab a 60-year-old man in the chest. The victim blocked the attack and his hand was cut, police said. It was not clear if they were connected to the random attacks, police said.