Wednesday afternoon took a terrifying turn for one Russian tourist and his family when he was stabbed multiple times in the neck and face at the Hollywood and Highland center.
It was the quick reaction of two off-duty New York Police Department officers seizing the suspect that may have saved the victim’s life. Witnesses told KTLA that the wife tried to aid her husband while their frightened children ran away.
Witnesses told KTLA it looked like the stabbing suspect had ogled the Russian tourist’s wife, though authorities were not certain what led up to the altercation.
“He got into some sort of an altercation involving a possible transient person, who produced a knife and was able to cause some stab wounds to the Russian victim,” Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Pete Carcone said, according to KTLA. The knife used was described as an eight-inch kitchen type knife.
“He kicked the knife out–boom–and he put him in a zip-tie. He did what he was supposed to do,” one witness told KTLA of the NYPD officers. The two NYPD cops held the man until LAPD was able to arrive on scene and take custody.
LAPD said the Russian man was taken to the hospital for medical attention and was in stable condition at the time according to the report.
The stabbing suspect has been identified as Donald Offerman, 54. After the arrest the suspect was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and bail was set at $500,000.
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