Eric Herrera Los Angeles man attacks woman walking dog in Mid Wilshire area with samurai sword, killing dog, leaving woman with lacerations.
A California man is in custody for allegedly stabbing a woman walking her dog along a Los Angeles street with a samurai sword in an unprovoked attack, police said.
The incident led to an un-identified woman, described by the Los Angeles Police Dept as a mother suffering lacerations along with her pet dog deceased.
Eric Herrera, 23, was arrested at the scene in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood Tuesday night on suspicion of attempted murder, police said.
Cops said they received multiple 911 calls around 11:20 p.m. reporting an assault with a deadly weapon in the 1200 block of South Victoria Avenue.
Officers who responded saw the 23-year-old suspect walking in the middle of the street holding a sword.
Violent crime surge in US
Officers attempted to ‘de-escalate’ the situation and ordered Herrera to put the sword down, only to refuse, with the suspect approaching police with the blade in hand.
Cops responded by using a Taser on Herrera, after which he was taken into custody without incident.
According to the LAPD’s statement, the 43-year-old dog owner was found nearby suffering from multiple cuts to her arm from Herrera’s sword. Officers applied a tourniquet at the scene to stop the bleeding before the woman was taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
KTLA-TV reported that witnesses saw the sword-wielding suspect stab the woman’s dog to death.
Herrera was booked into the county jail early Wednesday on a charge of attempted murder and was ordered held on $ 1 million bail.
It remained unclear what motivated the attack. The attack comes days after a homeless man attacked a woman walking along a street in broad daylight with garden shears, leaving her with brain damage as violent crime across the United States continues to plague the nation.
