4 Stabbed at Target: Teenage Girl in Critical Condition as Knife-Wielding Man Wreaks Havoc in Pittsburgh

By Jon Campbell, Christian Post Contributor Monday, March 25, 2013

At least 4 people have been stabbed at a Target store in Pittsburgh on Monday, including a 16 year old girl who has been reported to be in critical condition.

According to reports, police were dispatched to a Target store in the East Liberty area of the city at about 5.30 p.m. on Monday after an emergency call from the incident.

Authorities have confirmed that a man was arrested at the scene and taken into custody, according to ABC News.

Four people are said to have been stabbed at the scene, although the cause of the violence has not yet been confirmed.

There have, however, been contradicting reports from the scene from eye witnesses, with one eye witness claiming the man with the knife was chased into the store by three men with bats. Twenty-one year old Dominique Gomez, has said that he grabbed the teenager "holding her hostage": "After he grabbed the (16-year-old) he was screaming, 'They tried to rob me. They have my wallet.' It looked like he was holding her hostage. He seen the men coming after him with a bat and he grabbed the woman. They were trying to get after him."

Another unnamed witness told Channel 4 Action News that the man with the knife was chasing people: "I took a peek at the top of the steps, and the guy was chasing the dude around with a long, long knife. It was a long, long knife. He was chasing him around through the aisles … I went back up the top of the steps, and he had this girl by the top of her hair. He just kept screaming, 'I'll stab her again.' He kept stabbing her. Me and like four or five other guys, they ran and tackled him … He cut the one guy's lip almost off. The other guy's finger was, like, hanging off."

One of the four people injured is a teenage girl who was rushed to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Hospital staff have reported that she remains in critical condition on Monday night.

The other three stabbed victims are said to have suffered moderate to minor wounds, and a police officer also needed medical assistance after being exposed to pepper spray, according to The Associated Press.