Students in a UCLA chemistry lab watched helplessly Thursday afternoon as a classmate suddenly slashed the neck of a fellow student, causing serious injuries.
The attack occurred just past noon on the sixth floor of Young Hall, prompting swift police mobilization and leaving students shaken by the violence as word spread across campus.
One witness inside the lab told The Times that the alleged assailant, a 20-year-old male student in the class, walked up to the 20-year-old female victim and appeared to repeatedly punch her. The witness said he realized it was more serious when she slumped over, bleeding profusely from her neck.
Police have booked Damon D. Thompson on suspicion of attempted murder.
Another student, Woojin Lee, was waiting with a friend near the lab when he heard screams and crying.
"I thought somebody blew themselves up with chemicals," Lee said. "Some of the students in that room were covered with blood on their coats and latex gloves. I saw her neck; the [teacher's assistant] was trying to help her."
"It was horrifying because she was a fellow student and a partner," Lee added. "Something happens at a prestigious university like UCLA, it seems unbelievable."
Thompson was arrested inside Young Hall minutes after the incident. The name of the victim has not been released. She was rushed to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, which is on campus, in critical condition. She underwent surgery and her condition was improving.
Los Angeles Police Department detectives said they don't know the motive for the attack. A law enforcement source said there might have been a verbal altercation before the slashing, but details were unclear. Both students were seniors, and some campus sources said they may have been lab partners.
UCLA officials sent a text alert to students, faculty and staff soon after the attack, telling them that an incident had occurred at Young Hall and to stay away from the area.
The attack took place between class sessions in an organic chemistry lab. The undergraduate-level lab enrolls about a dozen students and is usually led by teaching assistants. It is part of a class for about 60 students that is overseen by lecturer Alfred Bacher, according to department officials. Bacher could not be reached for comment.
Cyril Baida, a graduate student who is a teaching assistant in a lab next door, said he helped escort the victim into his room and sat her down while another teaching assistant kept applying pressure through gauze on her neck to stop the bleeding.
