Knife-Wielder Sentenced For West Hollywood Stabbings

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA – A man who stabbed two men was sentenced Friday to 14 years and four months in state prison. One of the stabbing victims was mistakenly shot and killed by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies while he was trying to escape the attack in West Hollywood.

Alexander Tor McDonald, 31, pleaded no contest Oct. 2 in a Los Angeles courtroom to two counts of attempted murder and admitted an allegation that he inflicted great bodily injury, according to Deputy District Attorney Keri Modder.

McDonald was initially charged with murder involving the April 7, 2014, shooting death of John Winkler, who was stabbed by McDonald and then killed by deputies who mistook him for the suspect as he followed another bleeding victim out of the apartment unit.

The murder count, along with a torture charge, were dismissed as a result of McDonald's plea.

Sheriff's deputies had been responding to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon and were looking for a thin, white male wearing a black shirt, Lt. David Coleman of the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau said shortly after the shooting.

"The door suddenly opened and a male victim came rushing out," Coleman said then. "He was covered in blood and bleeding profusely from the neck.

Simultaneously, victim Winkler ran out the door, lunging at the back of the fleeing victim. Both ran directly at the deputies."

"Winkler was similar to the description of the suspect and was wearing a black shirt," the lieutenant said then. "Believing Winkler was the assailant and the assault was ongoing and he would attack the entry team, three deputies fired their duty weapons at him."

McDonald's roommate, Liam Mulligan, who had been stabbed by McDonald, was shot in a leg.

Deputies then found McDonald struggling with another man on the living room floor of the apartment, and discovered a large knife that had been used in the stabbing, authorities said.

In August 2015, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a $5 million settlement with the family of Winkler, who was a 30-year-old production assistant for Comedy Central's "Tosh.O" who had recently moved from Seattle to Los Angeles.

The board of supervisors agreed in May 2016 to pay $2.5 million to Mulligan.

City News Service and Patch staffer Emily Holland contributed to this post; Image via Shutterstock