Off-Duty NYPD Detectives Subdue Suspect In Attack On Tourist In Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (CBSNewYork/CBSLA.com) -- Two off-duty NYPD detectives in Los Angeles on business apprehended a man suspected of stabbing a tourist Tuesday afternoon.
The attack happened around 1:10 p.m. Pacific Time at the Hollywood & Highland Center, at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in Hollywood, according to CBS Los Angeles.
The Russian tourist was shopping with his family – his wife and two young girls – when he got into a quarrel with an apparently homeless man, a witness said.
"Coming up after him with a knife and holding it, like, over his head," said witness Mia Shemesh. "After that, he was trying to stab him, I think he like stabbed him (in the forehead) or something with the tip of the knife."
Police said the suspect then stabbed the tourist multiple times in the neck and face, the witness said. But that was as far as he got, CBS Los Angeles reported.
The two off-duty NYPD detectives were walking on the street at the time when they witnessed the attack, police told CBS2. The officer stopped the suspect and one pulled out a gun, CBS Los Angeles reported.
"They told him to lay down on the ground, drop the knife, and that's it. They got him – one stood on his hands – and it took the police maybe like five more minutes to get here," Shemesh told CBS Los Angeles.
Shemesh told KCAL-TV, Los Angeles she took photos of the NYPD detectives subduing the suspect.
The off-duty detectives held the suspect until the LAPD arrived, police said. The suspect was taken into custody, and the tourist was undergoing surgery at an area hospital late Wednesday, police said.
The NYPD detectives were on official police business in Los Angeles, looking for a suspect who was wanted in New York, police told CBS2.
