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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Attorneys for a boy and a woman who were stabbed by a man at a Target store in downtown Los Angeles are asking a judge to order the retail chain to produce software evidence regarding similar incidents at other Target stores.
The stabbings occurred Nov. 15, 2022, at the FIGat7th shopping center shortly after 6:20 p.m. The victims were later identified as Brayden Medina Molina, then 9 years old, and Joo Hye Song, then 24. Both sued Target Corp. and other entities in March 2023 and their suits have been consolidated.
In their previous court papers, Target attorneys denied any liability on the retail giant's part and urged that judgment be entered in their client's favor. But in court papers filed Thursday with Judge Anne Hwang, the plaintiffs' attorneys state that they have sought and been unsuccessful in getting Target to hand over information from its TruCase software program.
"This discovery is necessary in order to determine how many other incidents involving store knives had occurred at other Target stores and whether it was reasonable for Target to continue leaving the knives at their stores unsecured and accessible to patrons," the plaintiffs' attorneys state.
"The prior knife incidents involving store knives is one of the most critical issues in this case," the plaintiffs' attorneys state in their pleadings.
The plaintiffs' lawyers further state they have requested an inspection of TruCase performed by both sides' forensic experts, but that Target has refused.
"Unfortunately, due to (Target's) previous refusal to provide discovery and (its) gamesmanship, (the plaintiffs' attorneys) believe an inspection is the only way to truly obtain all previous knife incidents," the plaintiffs' lawyers further argue.
Based on the deposition testimony of Target's asset protection business partner, the plaintiffs' lawyers seek an order requiring Target to allow for an inspection of their TruCase software by forensic experts to obtain all incident reports with the search terms "knife," "kitchen knife," "brandishing," and "stabbing" in all Target Stores nationwide the last decade.
The man who stabbed the plaintiffs was shot and killed by a security guard.