UCLA science lab students watched in horror as a male classmate slashed the throat of a female stude

[RamboLiberal]

Students in the UCLA science lab described the horrifying moments this afternoon when a male classmate slashed the throat of a female student, who was critically injured.

One student who was inside the lab when the attack occurred shortly after noon told The Times that he looked up as the assailant appeared to repeatedly punch the victim. Then the man calmly turned and walked away as the victim lay bleeding profusely.

Law enforcement sources said some type of verbal altercation occurred just before the attack, but the relationship, if any, between the assailant and the victim was unclear.

Witnesses said they saw a woman staggering out of the sixth-floor Young Hall lab with a teacher's assistant applying pressure to her bloody neck moments after the attack, which was reported at 12:21 p.m.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/ucla-lab-students-watched-in-horror-as-classmate-slashed-throat-of-fellow-student.html

WTF is going on in these labs? Yale and now this!

[jeffbr]

1. Damn - where did he get a knife in a chem lab?

[lunatica]

2. I work in UC Berkeley and can't imagine how shocked those students are!

Universities are peaceful places where you see people form all over the world getting along just fine even if their countries are at war with each other. This is very disturbing.

[CTyankee]

3. Dear god. We are just going thru this whole thing at Yale. I don't know what is happening.

I suspect there was town/gown problems between the student and lab tech at Yale (altho I don't really know), this is another serious issue. I just can't seem to put my arms around the whole idea of it...what a strange thing this is to me...people in academia acting this way...

[stray cat]

4. Is there any truth to it being a difference in how a mouse was treated?

[Cali_Democrat]

5. Are you comparing a mistreated mouse to a young woman having her throat slashed?

I hope not.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

11. The poster is talking about the alleged motive as to why the Yale lab tech "snapped"

....killing the other lab tech.

[Cali_Democrat]

15. Oh my....I see.

I didn't know that was a motive in the Yale case.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

24. Well, no one knows if it was.....

.....the guy may have some sort of severe obsessive disorder, and that was rumored to be a trigger (That she didn't care for the rats in the cages like he wanted her to).

[CTyankee]

6. I think that strains credulity. But I don't know.

I doubt very seriously that mouse treatment could set Ray Clark off to strangle Annie Le...

[SidneyCarton]

7. What is going on, I mean what the HELL is going on?

This defies comment.

[Trillo]

8. A knife-weilding assailant can do a lot of damage,

it's hard to get the knife away from them I've read, and you can get seriously injured trying to do so.

This kind of attack was reported to have happened at a Chula Vista gas station some years ago according to the newspapers at the time. I believe two people were hurt, maybe one killed, but there just happened to be a construction guy with some 2x4s filling up his his truck with gas. The assailant was characterized as "acting crazy", like he'd gone insane or something. The construction worker knocked him a few times with a wall stud according to the news report. Of course the cops were called, I no longer recall the reported timing specifics, however, it always takes some time for cops to arrive. How many others would have been hurt if that laborer with his two-by-fours hadn't been there?

Don't mess with physical-labor workers is, I guess, the moral of the story, particularly when they carry big sticks.

Hope the surgeons save that girl. Sounds like they might.

[Beaverhausen]

9. Sounds like someone might be off his meds...

...just a guess.

[EFerrari]

10. He's twenty. It may be some kind of onset.

So sad.

[msongs]

12. they "watched"...ok, so did anybody do anything to stop the attack? its not a reality tv show nt

[niyad]

13. my thought, as well. throw something, scream, do SOMETHING

people repeatedly ask me why I carry a large purse. my reply "it's legal, and lethal"

[Igel]

14. It's an organic chem lab.

Most of the students were probably unaware of what was going on until it was over. Those who were aware might not have been close enough to do anything.

And any that were close enough probably wouldn't have been able to do much, anyway. What, hit them with a Bunsen burner or an Erlenmeyer flask?

What kinds of experiments would they have been doing, anyway? What, it's 2nd week, so the second lab meeting? Distilling an essential oil, perhaps?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

16. Such attacks are unthinkable to many, so that they do not react immediately is not surprising

However afterward they should have done something. Take camera phone pics or video of the assailant if nothing else.

[JonQ]

20. Sadly that seems to be the default reaction

watch and do nothing.

Even calling the cops, or hell, threatening to call the cops would have been better than nothing.

And yet this pattern will repeat itself again and again.

[Selatius]

22. Most people were probably too shocked to do anything in the heat of the moment.

The only people I've seen who react almost immediately to sudden, violent changes in a situation are people who have fought in wars, people in law enforcement, and people who have survived or worked in horrific disasters. They had to deal with this stuff before, so they're conditioned to respond.

In my case, I was a red cross relief volunteer in those horrible days following Katrina. Death was everywhere. nadinbrzezinski was also a first responder, an EMT, in other disasters although not with Katrina. Just talk to the war vets and others on this board who have seen this stuff. They received training on what to do in stressful situations.

[niyad]

25. I have no official training in those kinds of emergencies, but I do respond.

the "default setting" in my brain appears to be to enter the situation and do something about it. I have taken on people twice my size, have been in more emergency situations than I care to count-- and always take action. wonder why that is.

[Selatius]

27. Yeah, like you, I had no training for search and rescue. I was essentially pulled into the effort.

I was a Red Cross relief volunteer. They were so short-staffed in the immediate aftermath of Katrina that they were pulling in volunteers to help dig out bodies in the ruined homes. Everybody was on edge in those days. It was the second time I volunteered with them, and it was the most mentally devastating experience in my life. There were no real evacuation plans in place at all for the poor, the sick, and the elderly. They died in large numbers.

The first time I volunteered with the Red Cross was to help with the blood drives that were arranged right after 9/11.

[nachosgrande]

17. Yikes! I took that class in that very building as an undergrad.

My thoughts go out to the victim.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. It's no surprise that this sort of misogyny is present in organic chemistry courses.

What with how they're constantly teaching the nucleophiles to rape the electrophiles.

[Nikki Stone1]

19. ??

?

[armyowalgreens]

21. A lame attempt at a joke. Nice job.

[Odin2005]

23. FAIL.

[proteus_lives]

26. What a stupid joke.

Don't quit your day job.