Target hit with lawsuits following stabbings of boy, woman in unprovoked attack by homeless man

PREV. COVERAGE: Homeless man accused of stabbing child, another person at Downtown LA Target store

PREV. COVERAGE: Two people, including a child, were stabbed while shopping at a Target store in Downtown LA Tuesday night. The suspect was shot and killed.

LOS ANGELES - The victims of what authorities called an "unprovoked attack" at a Target in downtown Los Angeles by a homeless man before he was fatally shot by the store’s security guard have filed two separate lawsuits against the corporation, court documents obtained by FOX 11 revealed.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Target stabbing: 9-year-old among 2 stabbed in unprovoked attack by homeless man

The lawsuit, filed by Panish | Shea | Boyle | Ravipudi LLP, also lists Brookfield Properties and Watermark Security Group, Inc. as defendants.

On the night of Nov. 22, 2022, a 9-year-old boy and a 25-year-old woman were left in critical condition after officials said a man, experiencing homelessness, picked up a nine-inch butcher knife, threatened to kill the boy, and proceeded to stab the two victims in front of terrified patrons.

"Neither the armed security guard nor anyone working at the store came to the boy’s (or his mother’s) rescue before it was too late," the lawsuit states.

Following the stabbing spree, the suspect was shot and killed by the store’s security guard.

The lawsuit adds the knives, located at the Target on 7th and Figueroa streets, are now locked behind a display case, which is "a safety measure that should’ve been in place the whole time."

One lawsuit was filed by the female victim, Joo Hye Song, a resident of the Republic of Korea, while the second lawsuit was filed by parents Teresa and Favio Gallegos on behalf of their son, Brayden.

"Plantiff Brayden suffered grave and life-changing injuries when he was stabbed multiple times at Target," the lawsuit says "his mother Teresa Molina Gallegos was present at the scene when her son was stabbed and she saw him covered in his own blood on the ground fighting for his life."

Brayden survived his injuries and was released from the hospital just before Christmas 2022.

9-year-old stabbed at DTLA Target discharged from hospital before Christmas

Braden Medina had been in the hospital since mid-November after being stabbed in a downtown Los Angeles Target store. He was released from the hospital Friday.

Each lawsuit is going after the three companies for negligence and premises liability, while the Gallegos family added negligent infliction of emotional distress, saying Brayden "suffered serious emotional distress, including but not limited to mental anguish, fright, horror, nervousness, grief, anxiety, worry, shock and humiliation."

FOX 11 has reached out to Target for comment.

Downtown LA Crime and Public Safety