Thaindian News

May 4 (THAINDIAN NEWS) According to authorities, thirty four year old Layla Trawick went into the West Hollywood Target store and began to attack shoppers with a butcher knife and a steak knife. The store’s security guards, along with an off duty L.A.County Sheriff’s deputy managed to apprehend the woman, after she seriously injured four people.

Trawick, in what seems to be a random event, stormed into the store on Monday, and then at some point, wielding two knives, went into a rampage, leaving one of her four victims in critical condition. An entertainment journalist by the name of Allison McNamara was in the store shopping when she came face to face with a woman in the aisle which separates the skin care and kitchen sections screaming, “I’m bipolar. There is no witness protection program!”

McNamara then said that she could do nothing but watch helplessly as the crazed woman shoved a knife deep into the back of a man who was also shopping. She stated that the man had crouched down and was attempting to fend off the blows, as he was stabbed in the upper back and shoulder. “You could see where the knife was going into his back. The knife had ridges and a tag on it. She was going as fast and strong as she could. Four to six inches were covered in blood. She looked like she was going to stab everyone there,” McNamara said. As the woman turned to look at her, she turned and ran from the store with other shoppers. Being the writer and journalist that she is, she sent out the news of what she had just witnessed as quickly as possible, on her Twitter account from her cell phone.

The off duty deputy, Clay Grant Jr. was officially off duty has received praises for preventing more casualties than what already had occurred. He was on his day off, shopping at the Target store when he heard screams. As he watched the customers run past him to the store’s exit, he heard one say,”Someone has a knife!” He then saw a woman wearing a halter top with flowery pants holding a steak knife in one hand and a butcher knife in the other. He drew his service weapon, and told the woman he was a deputy sheriff. He demanded that she drop the knives, but instead, she ran. “Drop your knife!” he ordered again.

When she turned around, her stare was blank, and she looked confused, still clutching the knives. Grant said that he knew from her distance of about 20 feet away that she was no danger to him, and decided not to shoot her. She then noticed his gun, and dropped the knives. Immediately, she was restrained and taken into custody by Grant and the Target security guards. “We are exceptionally proud of Deputy Grant,” sheriff’s Capt. Michael Parker said. “The reason why this tragic situation wasn’t worse was because of the quick thinking of an armed, off-duty sheriff’s deputy who was willing to risk his life to end this situation.”

There were four wounded, including a pregnant woman. The baby was reported to be unharmed, and the most seriously injured were taken to nearby Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in critical condition. Trawick is being held on a one million dollar bond. The footage of the rampage, caught on store security tapes, is not yet being released.