Student stabbed in UCLA lab

[Booklady]

<p>

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A female UCLA student was hospitalized Thursday after a fellow student slashed her throat in a chemistry lab on campus, authorities said.</p>

<p>A male suspect was arrested after UCLA police got a call about the stabbing in Young Hall at 12:20 p.m.</p>

<p>UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton said the victim and suspect were among a group of students working in the lab at the time.</p>

<p>Officers were interviewing 30 to 40 witnesses who might have seen the attack, Campus Police Assistant Chief Jeff Young said. No names have been released, and the motive is under investigation.</p>

<p>The woman was being treated for multiple stab wounds at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Her condition was not immediately known.</p>

<p>Students told the Los Angeles Times they saw a woman stagger out of the lab moments after the attack while a teacher’s assistant applied pressure to her bloody neck.</p>

<p>Police closed off the building to investigate.

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/08/us/AP-US-UCLA-Stabbing.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/08/us/AP-US-UCLA-Stabbing.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[DonnaL]

<p>An updated story. Horrible.</p>

<p>[UCLA</a> student’s throat slashed in chem lab - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_re_us/us_ucla_stabbing]UCLA”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_re_us/us_ucla_stabbing)</p>

<p>

UCLA student’s throat slashed in chem lab</p>

<p>LOS ANGELES – Students and faculty at UCLA are stunned following a horrific attack in a campus chemistry lab in which a male student allegedly slashed the throat of a female student.</p>

<p>The woman underwent surgery for multiple stab wounds at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and was in stable condition Thursday night, Los Angeles police said.</p>

<p>Damon Thompson, 20, was arrested in the same chemistry building shortly after the stabbing Thursday. He was booked Thursday night on suspicion of attempted murder and was being held on $1 million bail, said Los Angeles police Officer Sara Faden.</p>

<p>UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton said the victim and suspect were both 20-year-old seniors taking an organic chemistry class along with other students who were in the undergraduate teaching lab at the time.</p>

<p>Cyril Baida, a teaching assistant who was working in a lab across the hall, said he saw the victim stagger out of the lab while another teaching assistant applied pressure to her neck, Baida said.

</p>

<p>More at link</p>

[DougBetsy]

<p>Oh, how awful. </p>

<p>And what a ghastly scene it must have been. God bless everyone who came to her aid.</p>

[DonnaL]

<p>Her TA was apparently especially quick-thinking:</p>

<p>

“Her TA — that guy deserves a medal. He had his hands around her wounds and was yelling, ‘Call 911,’” said Baida, a 26-year-old biochemistry graduate student. “I called 911 and told him to bring her into our lab. He kept holding her so she wouldn’t bleed until the paramedics arrived.”

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[UCLA_Band_Mom]

<p>[Relatives</a> of alleged UCLA throat-slasher shocked by his arrest | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times](<a href=“Archive blogs”>Archive blogs)</p>

<p>

Relatives of alleged UCLA throat-slasher shocked by his arrest</p>

<p>October 9, 2009 | 9:00 am</p>

<p>Relatives of the man suspected of slashing the neck of a fellow UCLA student were in disbelief today that the mellow young man who raided their refrigerator could commit such a violent act.</p>

<p>Damon D. Thompson, who was arrested Thursday after the attack in a chemistry lab on the Westwood campus, frequently stayed at relatives’ tidy brown home in Fontana with a basketball hoop in the driveway. He is an only child who left his mother’s home in Belize two years ago to attend UCLA.</p>

<p>His second cousin, Akilah Williams, 17, said she was shocked when she heard the news and skeptical that the 20-year-old could commit such a brutal act.</p>

<p>“He cares about what people think about him too much,” Williams said. “He gets stressed out but that doesn’t mean he’d do something crazy.”</p>

<p>Thompson is accused of slashing the neck of a 20-year-old woman Thursday afternoon in a chemistry lab on the sixth floor of Young Hall, prompting a swift police mobilization and leaving the student body shaken. The victim, whose name has not been released, is recovering at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after emergency surgery.</p>

<p>Thompson, who was arrested inside Young Hall minutes after the attack, was booked on suspicion of attempted murder. Police are searching for a motive.</p>

<p>Relatives described Thompson as mellow though sometimes “snooty” about his possessions.</p>

<p>Williams said her only complaint about her cousin was that he occasionally raided the fridge.</p>

<p>“He would eat everything,” she said. “I mean everything.”</p>

<p>Thompson had no other family in the United States, so he would spend school breaks, including all of last summer, at his mother’s cousin’s Fontana home. Relatives said they had never seen their cousin become violent. </p>

<p>“He was even nice to my dog, Doc,” said Jabari Williams, 16, also a second cousin.

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<p>LA Sheriff Booking Info
[Chemistry</a> Blog Blog Archive UCLA Chemistry Stabbing](<a href=“http://www.chemistry-blog.com/2009/10/08/ucla-chemistry-stabbing/]Chemistry”>http://www.chemistry-blog.com/2009/10/08/ucla-chemistry-stabbing/)</p>

<p>Offender ID: 2088232
Offender Name: DAMON D THOMPSON
Date of Birth: 05/09/1989
Age: 20
Custody Status: In Custody
Location of Offender: LAPD Pacific Division
Race: Black
Gender: Male </p>

<p>Charge Level: F (Felony)</p>

<p>ARREST
Arrest Date: 10/08/2009 Arrest Time: 1415 Arrest Agency: 4208 Agency Description: LAPD-WLA DIVISION</p>

<p>Date Booked: 10/08/2009 Time Booked: 2113 Booking Location: 4214 Location Description: LAPD</p>