Target sued by woman and 9-year-old boy stabbed by homeless man in L.A. store
Two November stabbings in a Target store in downtown Los Angeles that left a 9-year-old boy and 25-year-old woman hospitalized have prompted lawsuits, CBS Los Angeles reports.
The unprovoked stabbings happened when a homeless man walked into the store and grabbed a 9-inch "butcher-style knife" off a shelf and randomly pick his two victims, police said. Amid hysteria and chaos, a security guard shot and killed the suspect.
The two victims have filed separate lawsuits against the corporation.
Aside from Target, the suits list Brookfield Properties and Watermark Security Group, Inc. as defendants. The suits assert that the property wasn't properly secured from such threats, security didn't act quickly enough and Target had its knives out on display.
"Despite knowing that DTLA (downtown L.A.) was seeing an uptick in crime and homelessness, as evidenced, in part, by Target employing an armed security guard to keep the store safe, on the evening of November 15, 2022, a deranged homeless man walked freely into the store, grabbed a butcher knife with a 9-inch blade easily off a shelf and proceeded to brutally attack not just one customer but two customers before he was belatedly shot by the security guard," the suits state.
The 9-year-old boy, Brayden Medina, was stabbed in the shoulder. He was at the store with his mother but was separated from her before being stabbed. Good Samaritans came to Medina's aid, applying pressure to his wounds.
The other stabbing victim was 25-year-old Joo Hye Song. She was "brutally" stabbed in the chest, according to Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore.
Good Samaritans pulled her into a pharmacy and closed the gate to protect them against the suspect, Moore said.
"Plantiff Brayden suffered grave and life-changing injuries when he was stabbed multiple times at Target," his suit states. Brayden survived his injuries and was released from the hospital just before Christmas 2022.
The lawsuits also say that, in the wake of the incident, Target now locks its knives behind a display case, "a safety measure that should have already been in place before this tragedy occurred."
When asked for a comment, a Target spokesperson said the company doesn't discuss matters regarding to pending litigation and referred CBS L.A. to its previous comment made a week after the attack: "An individual attacked two guests at our 7th & Figueroa store in Los Angeles. 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. We're grateful for the aid provided by the Los Angeles Police Department and others, and we're focusing on supporting our team in the wake of the incident. We'd refer additional questions to law enforcement."
