Family needs help after 65-year-old flower vendor stabbed in Hawthorne

LOS ANGELES - A GoFundMe has been established for a 65-year-old flower vendor who was stabbed repeatedly while selling flowers on Halloween.

Juan Diaz was at this usual spot on the Hawthorne overpass to the 105 Freeway. At about 5 p.m., a man with a hoodie was seen leaving the Metro platform on a skateboard. Diaz says he stopped at his spot, but instead of asking for flowers, he took out a knife and started stabbing him.

You can see cell phone video from bystanders who were screaming, "Don’t stab him," as Diaz fell to the ground. The 65-year-old managed to grab the suspect’s skateboard and protect himself for a few seconds before the suspect grabbed the skateboard back and took off.

Recuperating at his daughter’s home, Diaz says he has been at the same spot, six days a week, for years. He has been robbed but never attacked like this. The suspect fled without taking anything, adds the shaken man, who adds that he has never seen so many mentally troubled people in the area as in the last few years.

The family has no insurance and will take whatever help people can give him. The case is being investigated by LA County Sheriff’s Department and is asking for the public's help if they know anything about the suspect.