Target Rampage: Bystanders Battled Suspect Who Chased Child With Knife

LOS ANGELES, CA — A homeless man suspected of stabbing two people at a Downtown Los Angeles Target store was shot and killed by a security guard Tuesday night, according to police.

A 25- year-old woman and a 9-year-old boy shopping in the store were randomly stabbed by an attacker, who allegedly took a knife off a shelf and went on a rampage at the Target store at Figueroa and Seventh streets, police said.

According to Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore, 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," Moore said. "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."

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 reporters at a press conference Tuesday night.

Los Angeles Police Department officers arrived at the store at the FIGat7th shopping center shortly after 6:20 p.m. to find the two stabbing victims and a third victim who had been punched by the suspect while trying to intervene in the stabbing, Capt. Elaine Morales said.

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The suspect — identified only as a homeless man — had grabbed a knife off a shelf to commit the stabbings, Morales said. 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 was in critical condition, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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