Preliminary Hearing Set for Suspect in Standoff at San Mateo Medical Center

A preliminary hearing date has been reset for Aug. 8 for a 51-year-old man accused of setting a small fire and barricading himself inside a hospital room at the San Mateo Medical Center in March.

The patient, Hillsborough resident Zavtcho Stoyanov, was arrested after the incident in which he allegedly set his hospital room on fire at the medical center, located at 222 W 39th Ave. in San Mateo.

The preliminary hearing was scheduled to take place Friday in San Mateo County Superior Court but Judge Marta Diaz agreed to push back the date until August to allow further investigation. It's the fourth setting of the preliminary hearing date in this case.

Stoyanov was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, and has been released from custody on his own recognizance.

The incident began at about 10:45 p.m. on March 5, when staff noticed smoke coming from his room. A nurse tried to open the door but discovered it had been blocked with a chair and hamper, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.

The nurse kicked the door open and saw the bed and floor on fire. He then saw Stoyanov walking toward him with a knife in his hand, prosecutors said.

Stoyanov thrusted the knife twice at the nurse's torso, missing both times only after the nurse jumped back, according to prosecutors.

The nurse emptied an extinguisher trying to put the fire out, then left the room.

San Mateo police were called and an officer entered the room and saw Stoyanov sitting on the bed.

The officer ordered Stoyanov to show his hands and saw he was still holding the knife.

As the officer approached, Stoyanov jabbed the knife at him, missing, according to prosecutors. The officer then used a taser to subdue Stoyanov.

Other officers and fire personnel were told smoke was billowing from a wing of the hospital, so thick an officer could not make out what was in front of him.

Staff frantically wheeled patients out of the area on beds in what turned out to be "a very chaotic scene in which fortunately no one was injured," prosecutors said.

The preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 8 at 2 p.m.