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Crime Nov 18, 2022
| Photo courtesy of Santeri Viinamäki/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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A 9-year-old boy and a 24-year-old woman remain hospitalized Friday after being stabbed at a Target store in downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Police Department officers arrived at the store at the FIGat7th shopping center shortly after 6:20 p.m. Tuesday to find two stabbing victims and a 26-year-old woman who intervened and suffered minor injuries, police said.
The woman was stabbed in the chest, and the boy — identified as Brayden Medina by his family, according to KTLA — sustained a deep laceration in a shoulder, police said. The boy’s mother was in the store but not with him at the time of the stabbing. His family is now asking for donations on a GoFundMe page.
The boy remained in stable condition as of Friday, while the 24-year-old woman was in critical but stable condition. The 26-year-old good Samaritan who intervened was treated for scratches by responding paramedics at the scene and released.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the suspect “told the young boy that he was going to stab him and kill him. He repeated that more than once.” He said the boy tried to escape before being was attacked.
“Without any further provocation, (he) suddenly attacked and stabbed this young child in the back,” Moore said at a news conference Tuesday night.
The suspect then continued along a store aisle when he encountered and attacked the woman. She and the boy both underwent surgery for their injuries.
Moore said good Samaritans intervened in both cases, pulling the victims to safety.
The suspect, a 40-year-old homeless man, earlier entered the store, grabbed what Moore described as a 9- to 10-inch “butcher-type knife” off a shelf and began stabbing the victims. He then moved toward the front of the store, where he was confronted by an armed security guard employed by Target.
“Earlier accounts have the security guard attempting to de-escalate the situation” with his baton, Moore said, but the suspect continued to advance on the security officer with the knife.
The security guard shot the suspect, hitting him at least once in the abdomen, Moore said. The man was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, LAPD Officer Luis Garcia told City News Service.
Moore said the attack was unprovoked and officers are trying to determine a motive for the stabbings. “This is by no means a frequent occurrence here,” he said.
