<p>From what I heard the guy was upset because they had to stay late to finish the lab and he used a kitchen knife. There were a total of 5 people including the TA in the room. My source is from somebody that had class in the room next door.</p>
<p>From what I read, I think the slashing of the throat happened so fast that the other students didn’t realize what happened till she slumped over.</p>
<p>USA Today coverage: [UCLA</a> student’s throat slashed in chem lab - USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-10-09-ucla-stabbing_N.htm]UCLA”>http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-10-09-ucla-stabbing_N.htm)</p>
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<p>you dumb bro? the TA did help the girl by applying pressure to the wound after the stabbing occurred</p>
<p>you telling me you expected them to prevent it from happening? if you are then i’m pretty sure there was nothing they could have done. they’re focusing on their own lab at their own station, you really think it took more than 10 seconds for this guy to whip out a knife and cut the girl? come on man, use some common sense</p>
<p>^ they still should have apprehended him after the fact. From the sounds of the stories, he just calmly walked out of the room. I’m sorry, but that shouldn’t have happened. Police reported as many as 30+ witnesses. A 200 lbs. guy with a small edged weapon (knife, piece of glass, whatever it was - the reports haven’t said yet) isn’t much match for a large group of students.</p>
<p>Icarus, you’re an idiot. Let me spell that out. I-D-I-O-T. </p>
<p>You would really have unarmed civilians risk great bodily harm to themselves by confronting a man armed with a deadly weapon?</p>
<p>Ask any law enforcement officer and they will tell you that the bystanders did the right thing - let the suspect walk away and call emergency services immediately. The police did their job. </p>
<p>You need to learn that life is not like a video game where you can play hero.</p>
<p>TheHutt,</p>
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<p>Of course thats going to be the official position - the department doesn’t want the liability. But I think (in fact, I know) that if you asked any LEO, the vast majority would have a very different personal opinion of the matter.</p>
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<p>In this case, given the circumstances… most definitely yes. If you think about it, the risk of “great bodily harm” is actually very low.</p>
<p>Now I obviously wasn’t there, and this is definitely armchair quarterbacking, but let’s consider various statements taken to be facts here. This guy was seen by 30+ students attacking a female student. One student witness interviewed by the news said he thought the attacker was “punching” the other student. So right there, why didn’t he and other students go to her aid? How many of you would stand by while someone else (in your chemistry class no less) got beat up? Psychology 101 lesson here - diffusion of responsibility.</p>
<p>Then people realized that he actually stabbed her, probably with either a small knife or another small sharp object. The idea that it was a large kitchen knife is ludicrous - you wouldn’t mistake that for “punching” someone… and who brings a kitchen knife to chemistry lab anyway (and unnoticed for that matter)? </p>
<p>So now we know that he is stabbing her. Again, why would you possibly be okay with just standing there and letting that happen? Again, consider the facts. There are possibly 30 other bystanders around, and one 5’11", 200 lbs aggressor with a small edged weapon. And he got away?!?!! There is something majorly wrong with this picture. All it would have taken is one person to yell “hey, this guy’s got a knife and just stabbed that girl - don’t let him get away!” If you think you would be able to take on 30 people (or even 5 people) with a small knife, you’ve got another thing coming.</p>
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<p>This has nothing to do with trying to be a hero - it has everything to do with being a conscientious person and coming to the aid of your fellow student/human being. Put yourself in the shoes of the person being stabbed. Would you want the large crowd around you to just stand back, ensure their safety, call the police, and let the guy get away?? You’re the one that needs to learn that life is not a video game. Actions (and lack thereof) have real consequences.</p>
<p>i agree with thehutt. who the hell would risk their own life to stop someone with a knife. would YOU like to try to muscle down a guy with a knife barehanded? i don’t think so.
it’s true, 30+ students could apprehend the assailant, but i’m pretty sure the first 2-3 people would be cut down…</p>
<p>I suppose you would say if he had a gun that would be a different story but OH A KNIFE CMON, PEOPLE. </p>
<p>A weapon is a weapon. At the end of the day:</p>
<p>Dude with knife + adrenaline > 30+ unarmed witnesses + shock</p>
<p>Besides, these are life science majors we’re talking about here. They’re not exactly ultimate fighter heavyweights.</p>
<p>If this was indeed a 30CL lab, there wouldn’t have been 30 people in the lab (30BL only has 20 and significantly less people take 30CL), and most of the students in the lab are probably female. Plus it was between normal classes, so only people that were behind on their experiments were in the room. It’s certainly possible to bring a kitchen knife to chem lab without being noticed. It’s called a backpack. And who would do that? Maybe someone who has planned the attack in advance? They still haven’t released his motives to the public, but I don’t think it was a “spur of the moment” thing, unless he had mental problems.</p>
<p>You don’t know how fast this actually happened, or what people did or did not do. Everyone was probably working on their experiments so they probably weren’t watching everything unfold and not doing anything. They probably heard something, turned around, realized what had happened, and by the time they got over the initial deer-in-the-headlights OMGW-T-FBBQ moment, the dude would have had enough time to run out of the room. For all you know, his lab station was right next to the [possibly open] door.</p>
<p>The person who thought he was punching her probably just saw that out of the corner of their eye. Even if that person did (and we don’t know if they did or not) shout “HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!”, that would have been ample time to get a couple more stabs in and make a dash for the door. And then tack on even more time for everyone else to turn around and realize what was going on.</p>
<p>I didn’t take 30CL, so I don’t know how the lab room is set up. If it’s anything like 30BL lab rooms, you do not have a clear line of sight to everyone in the class, just people to the left and right of you at your bench. So that would add even MORE time for everyone to realize what had happened.</p>
<p>It’s easy to sit back and critique, but if you were actually there your actions probably wouldn’t have played out like what you think should have been done. There’s always going to be shoulda-woulda-coulda’s after the fact, but things aren’t so clear cut when it’s actually unfolding in front of you.</p>
<p>They did catch the guy (rather, he turned himself in) and the victim sounds like she will make it, so there’s not much more to ask for. Could it have played out better? Definitely. Could it have been much worse? Absolutely.</p>
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<p>Agree completely - in fact, I probably know this better than most. But if you don’t critique and learn from the past, things probably won’t change the next time (or could go much worse). I certainly don’t know what happened exactly or what was going through the minds of those who were there. My only point is that something (anything) should have been done re: either restraining or at a minimum following the attacker while calling police to make sure he didn’t get away.</p>
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<p>I’m sorry you feel this way…
Again, put yourself in the place of the person being stabbed - what would you want other people to do (especially if there is a sizeable group - I know the numbers are in dispute, but we’re still talking about more than a couple people in the immediate vicinity)?</p>
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<p>I have as a matter of fact. I’ve also helped restrain people significantly stronger than me. Its all a numbers game - with enough people you can subdue anyone. And you have to determine the risk involved on a case by case basis. I never claimed to know all the details and freely admit that this is total armchair quarterbacking, hindsight is 20/20, etc. etc.</p>
<p>My overarching point is that its disappointing that there were so many witnesses to this event, and yet it seems that no one made even a basic attempt to ensure that he didn’t get away. Imagine if he didn’t decide to turn himself in. How many of you would be saying “omg, I can’t believe so many people were there and he still got away! Now we have a violent person on campus, I don’t feel safe anymore, etc. etc.”…</p>
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<p>It definitely would be a different story - I’m sorry that you think that a small knife and a gun are equal weapons. Again, this is going off of the information we have here. The guy wasn’t weilding a katana here.</p>
<p>Anyway, lets try to let this one die here - I’ve made my point and there’s not much more to add here. Continuing this side debate will inevitably lead to circular arguing.</p>
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<p>Yeah, there are 8 and 11 people respectively in the two sections that were that morning. I could see maybe 30 people being around when she was taken into the hall or whatever, but I doubt anywhere near that many saw the actual attack.</p>
<p>On a different note, I think props are due to the quick response of UCLA PD and UCLA EMS, who by several accounts were on scene within 1 and 3 minutes, respectively. (I’m sure EMS would have been there sooner, but they wait until the all clear from the PD) </p>
<p>A lot of people may wonder about the safety of campus, but I can guarantee you that there are very few places where you can get response times like that. Even without knowing the specifics of the victim’s injuries, it’s safe to say that the rapid response of emergency services on campus contributed to her positive outcome.</p>
<p>^ Definitely. And the TA as well.</p>
<p>where did you find out from that response was only 1 min, lol 1 minute is kinda hard to believe, but kudos if they really did do that</p>
<p>This incident happening so soon after the other UCLA students were stabbed at the UCLA frat party does make one think twice about safety. Crime is going up in LA because of the weak economy. There is a crimewatch blog in the Daily Bruin with a map if you want to know where the crimes are on campus. [The</a> Daily Bruin | Blogs](<a href=“http://beta.dailybruin.com/blogs/]The”>http://beta.dailybruin.com/blogs/)
But it is only an on-campus watch. You have to read the LATimes for the REAL crime scene in LA. Trust me, you don’t want to read it.</p>
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<p>[The</a> Daily Bruin | UCLA student stabbed in chemistry lab (UPDATED)](<a href=“http://beta.dailybruin.com/articles/2009/10/9/student-stabbed-chemistry-lab/]The”>http://beta.dailybruin.com/articles/2009/10/9/student-stabbed-chemistry-lab/)</p>
<p>This article quotes the 3 minute time for the ambulance - I forget where I saw the 1 minute time for the police (another article), but you can be guaranteed the police arrived first in this case.
And its not all that hard to believe when you consider that UCLA has its own police and EMS departments who are always on campus. You’d be surprised how fast you can get somewhere on campus with lights and sirens.</p>
<p>I’m glad she is alive and recovering</p>
<p>Icarus, you apologize to much…</p>
<p>anyway, i got to start carrying a shank again in case something like this happens again.</p>
<p>[UCLA</a> professor reported concerns about stabbing suspect last year – latimes.com](<a href=“http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ucla-stab11-2009oct11,0,1981002.story]UCLA”>UCLA prof raised alarm over suspect)</p>