LA Target Store Stabbing Spree Victims Sue Retailer And Security Firm

LOS ANGELES, CA — A woman and child slashed in an unprovoked attack by a homeless man at a Downtown Target are suing the company, alleging security officers waited until they were fighting for their lives to intervene.

A security guard shot and killed the suspect after he grabbed a butcher's knife and independently attacked the child and the woman in November.

"Neither the armed security guard nor anyone working at the store came to the boy’s (or his mother’s) rescue before it was too late," one of two lawsuit alleged, according to FOX 11, which first reported the independent lawsuits on behalf of Joo Hye Song, 25, and Brayden Gallegos, 9. "Plantiff Brayden suffered grave and life-changing injuries when he was stabbed multiple times at Target...his mother Teresa Molina Gallegos was present at the scene when her son was stabbed and she saw him covered in his own blood on the ground fighting for his life."

According to FOX 11, the suit contends Target should have kept the knives locked in a display case, and security staff should have acted sooner to protect customers.

A Target spokesperson declined to comment on the pending litigation but reiterated the company's statement in the immediate aftermath of the attack:

"We can confirm that a third-party security guard intervened to stop the attack and the Los Angeles Police Department was quick to respond to the situation. Safety is our top priority and our hearts go out to the guests who were injured."

The stabbing spree happened at the Target store at Figueroa and Seventh streets.

The attacker was a 40-year-old man who menaced the boy before chasing and stabbing him.

"He told the young boy that he was going to stab and kill him. He repeated that more than once. The young child attempted to flee, leave, ignore him and move away," Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore said shortly after the attack. "When the suspect without any further provocation suddenly attacked and stabbed this young child in the back, deep laceration on his left shoulder, Good Samaritans nearby attempted to come to the aid of him while the suspect was still there."

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That's when the attacker went in search of other victims, according to Moore.

He found a group of women on another aisle, stabbing one in the chest, Moore told said.

The suspect — identified only as a homeless man — had grabbed a knife off a shelf to commit the stabbings, according to LAPD Capt. Elaine Morales. The suspect approached a security guard after wounding the woman and the boy, but was shot, according to Morales.

Target security officers are not typically armed, but merchants or property managers at Downtown businesses sometimes employ third-party security companies.

The suspect and the victims were rushed to nearby hospitals. The suspect was declared dead at the hospital, and the woman and child were in critical condition.

To read the full Fox 11 story, click here.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.