Woman accused in Target knife attack suffers from mental illness, family says

The family of a woman accused of stabbing four people at a Target in West Hollywood said she suffered from mental illness.

Layla Rosetta Trawick, 34, of Antioch, Calif., entered the store at La Brea Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard after noon and picked up two knives, apparently merchandise from the store.

Detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are still trying to determine a reason for the attack, which left one customer in critical condition and three others was lesser injuries.

An off-duty deputy shopping at the store appeared to have stopped the attack, authorities said.

Family members of the suspect told KABC-TV that she suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and that they had been trying to get her help.

"I've been trying to get her institutionalized for years, and the mental hospitals just keep releasing her. She's been in and out of them since she was 16," said a woman who identified herself as Trawick's mother.

Entertainment journalist Allison McNamara was shopping at the store when she encountered a screaming woman in the aisle that separated the skin-care and kitchen sections.

"She was yelling 'I'm bipolar. There's no witness protection program.' "

McNamara said she watched helplessly as the woman plunged a knife into the upper back and shoulder of a male shopper. He had crouched down and covered up to fend off the blows, she said.

"You could see where the knife was going into his back. The knife had ridges and a tag on it. She was going as fast and strong as she could. Four to 6 inches were covered in blood. She looked like she was going to stab everyone there," McNamara said.

Moments later, the woman looked straight at McNamara, who immediately bolted out of the store with other shoppers and employees. McNamara immediately sent out a Twitter message telling people what she had seen.

Authorities credited Deputy Clay Grant Jr., who was off duty, with preventing additional casualties. Grant was at the Target shopping for paper towels on his day off when he heard screams.

Customers began racing past him toward the exit. "Somebody has a knife," he heard someone in the crowd say.

Out of the cosmetics aisle he saw a young woman wearing a halter top and flowery pants with a steak knife in one hand and a butcher knife in the other.

Grant, 26, drew his Beretta service weapon and identified himself to the woman as a sheriff's deputy. He demanded she drop the knives. The woman, he said, ran down the aisle, turned and dashed past four other aisles.

"Drop your knife," he ordered again.

She turned, her expression blank and confused, clutching the knives. He said, relying on his training, he decided that from a distance of about 20 feet she was no danger to him and chose not to pull the trigger.

The woman saw his gun and dropped both knives on the floor.

Grant and Target security officials restrained the woman, then handcuffed her.

Hours later, after recounting the incident to his worried mother, Grant said he didn't feel like a hero.

"I just come here to do my duties," the soft-spoken deputy said.

-- Andrew Blankstein and Robert Faturechi

RELATED:

Witness watched helplessly as woman stabbed shopper at Target in West Hollywood

Woman who allegedly stabbed 4 at Target was armed with butcher knife, kitchen knife

Photo: KTLA News

Comments

[Valerie]

When Ronald Reagan was governor of California he systematically began closing down mental hospitals, later as president he would cut aid for federally-funded community mental health programs. It is not a coincidence that the homeless populations in the state of California grew in the seventies and eighties. The people were put out on the street when mental hospitals started to close all over the state.

[kevin]

WHile this is a horrible act, I'm glad the "entertainment reporter" could get outside to Twitter and ensure she got interviewed rather than help anyone else!

[J. Province]

Only in LA...."(Entertainment reporter)McNamara immediately sent out a Twitter message telling people what she had seen."

[bill]

Deputy Grant = hero

[Phil Cooper]

It's wonderful that Deputy Grant did what he did. However, a store like Target is filled with so much merchandise that could have been pressed into service as defensive weapons, it's a wonder that no other shoppers had the presence of mind to grab something that could be used to pin Trawick to a wall or knock her to the ground and keep her from injuring anyone else until store security or police arrived.

[sirene]

Sadly, the way things are now, this is probably the only way she will get the help she needs. Same thing happened with my stepson - schizophrenic, in and out of treatment, would never take his meds on his own. So he kidnapped and stabbed a woman, and now he's in prison for 20-40 - but his medication is enforced, his life is structured, and he told me he's much happier now. Something is very very wrong with society when it has to come to this.

[JamesRSmith]

In my opinion, the mentally ill woman should have been given help before this happened. The county and the hospitals that treated her were negligent. There's a little known law in this state called "Laura's Law," that was enacted to prevent things like this. I have a mentally ill son as well that I've tried to get help for. When I found out about Laura's Law I called four numbers in the LA County Department of Mental Health to find out if they could use that law to help my kid. Four out of four times I was told they hadn't heard of that law. It's either incompetance or negligence on the part of the LA Department of Mental Health and the hospitals that treated and released this woman so many times that allowed this to happen. The victims and the family of the mentally ill woman all should sue the hospitals and the county for their negligence.

[michelle]

Sirene and Valerie, I agree with you both 100%. Our priorities in this country are totally warped. Mental Health matters to no one until something like this happens and then everyone is up in arms about why this person is out there, able to hurt people. THAT'S BECASUE WE HAVE NO MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES LEFT TO SPEAK OF!!! How about providing real funding for mental health and long-term hospitalization for those who really need it. I work in health care and I see this all the time. Its a real tragedy and knowing who is walking around out there is very scary. Oh and P.S. L.A. County has the highest homeless numbers in the entire country: 80,000. But there's no money for shelters and services for them either. But we're ready to accuse hospitals of dumping!

[Diego Paz]

"The woman saw his gun and dropped both knives on the floor." So, she
wasn't that crazy.

[Dennis]

We closed our Camarillo State Hospital where we complained about these people being let out on the streets. We can pay for illegals aliens, invaders of our Country , but we can't take care of our returning Vet's, homeless or mentally ill AMERICANS!!
A racist I guess they call me.
Too bad L A times can't tell the truth about how it has effected us all since Ronald Reagen Screwed Us All in 1986 with the word no one wants to say now in any news room.
Amnesty

[rs]

I don't consider deputy grant a hero. I do commend him for his quick action and restraint. Thanks for not shooting this woman who obviously needs mental help. Being a sheriff's deputy this is exactly the type of incident he is trained for and he was simply fulfilling his duty to protect & serve; albeit off-duty.

However, another case in point that if a law abiding citizen with a CCW and proper training was present could just as easily stopped this woman.

[justsaying]

Yes, first thank Regan but then thank the liberal legal advocates who have fought for and won "rights" for the mentally ill. They have the right to check themselves out of hospitals, to refuse medication, to refuse medical assistance. It's not just the system, it's the fact that we allow mentally ill people to decide for themselves their own fate. The family could request all they want for assistance but if a doctor asked this woman is she wanted help and she said no, and she did not overtly show signs of being a danger to herself, there is nothing that the doctor can do - by the letter of the law or risk getting sued! And EVEN if she did say that she wanted to hurt herself or others, by the letter of the law, the hold is short and she could still refuse medication and/or therapy! That's not the lack of health care, that's the lack of good sense of the voters and the legal system!

[O'Snap]

Just think what a tragedy this could have been without the quick-thinking Twitter heroics of "entertainment journalist" (lol) Allison McNamara! Good work, Allison!

[lola]

It is terrifying!!!!, and to think that this crazy woman lives in the same building that i live in with my children. I've seen this woman doing crazy things, in our building. I've also seen when the police has come and talk to her but i've never seen them taking her.

The people that she lives with, are also in my oppinion pretty scary. we can only wonder.

[bryan]

i was there when this happened. If i was in the area and saw what was going on, maybe i would have reacted to grab something. But i was over near the electronics and just heard " ..Got a Knife!" . Everyone just backed up unsure what was going on, its not the normal thing you hear. Soon after employees told us to get out . Luckily deputy grant was there. Seems like the amount of time in which he reacted was actually pretty fast.