Punjabi actor Aman Dhaliwal reportedly was wounded by a man wielding a hatchet outside a Planet Fitness gym in Corona earlier this week, according to reports.
The suspect approached the victim in the parking lot the gym shares with a shopping center on Grand Oaks and began to attack him with a hatchet and knife, Corona police said in a statement.
The pair ended up inside the Planet Fitness, where they continued to struggle, police said. Eventually, the victim and bystanders working out at the gym were able to tackle the attacker and disarm him, holding him down until police arrived.
Police identified the suspect as Ronald Chand, 30, of Santa Ana. After receiving treatment at a hospital, he was jailed on suspicion of attempted murder.
The victim, identified by police only as a 41-year-old man from Riverside, suffered several stab wounds to his upper body. Police said the injuries were non-life-threatening and that he was released from the hospital.
Police did not release a motive in the assault. However, Sgt. Jason Waldon, spokesman for the department, said the two men did not know each other before the incident, and the attack appeared to be random.
Although multiple reports have named Dhaliwal, a model-turned-actor, as the Riverside resident, the name given to detectives differed, said Waldon, who was unable to share the victim’s name.
Since the attack, messages have been posted from Dhaliwal’s Facebook account, including a post on Thursday, saying, “I am not able to speak much due to doctors advice so excuse me for not attending calls but I’ll reply back as soon I feel better … spread love not hate.”
Video from the attack circulating on social media and obtained by ABC7 Los Angeles appears to show the pair latching on to each other inside the Planet Fitness as the suspect holds a knife to Dhaliwal, whose face and body are covered in blood.
The suspect, wearing a blue hoodie with the hood up, is yelling at gym goers to “Please, respect us” before asking for water, and then yelling, “You are taking advantage of me.” Once the suspect drops his hood to reveal his face, Dhaliwal twists his body and tackles the suspect as gymgoers scream.
Dhaliwal has appeared in more than a dozen Punjabi, Hindi and Telugu films and television shows throughout his acting career, which began in 2003, according to IMDb.
