A security guard in a Los Angeles Target store fatally shot a man suspected of stabbing a 9-year-old boy and a 25-year-old woman Tuesday evening, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The attack happened around 6:20 p.m. at the Target in the FIGat7th shopping mall, police said.
The man, described by law enforcement officials as 40 years old and homeless, came into the store, grabbed a large butcher-style knife from a shelf, confronted the 9-year-old and told the boy he was going to kill him, The Associated Press reported.
“(He) confronted him and told the young boy he was going to stab him and kill him,” Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said during a news conference.
“He repeated that more than once. The young child attempted to flee and leave, ignore him, move away. The suspect without any further provocation suddenly attacked and stabbed this child in the back.”
The man then ran to another part of the store, saw a group of women shopping together and stabbed one of them in the chest.
He then went back toward the front of the building where he was confronted by an armed security guard. The security guard tried to stop the attacker with a baton, the AP reported, but then shot the man in the stomach.
The attacker, who police have not named, died at a hospital, Luis Garcia, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson said. The boy and the woman are in critical condition.
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