LA woman, 24, left brain-damaged after homeless man stabbed her in head with garden shears
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LA tech recruiter, 24, suffered brain damage after homeless man plunged GARDEN Scissors into back of her head during random street attack
- Kyli Watts, 24, was stabbed in the back of the head by garden shears in an unprovoked attack in North Hollywood, California
- Surveillance footage shows Jonathan Cole, 30, approaching and stabbing Watts before Watts stumbles away
- Watts went to a nearby cafe to call for help with the scissors still in her head
- Amy Watts, Kyli’s mother, says she is upset about the attack but has ‘not a bad attitude’ towards Cole, who left her daughter with a traumatic brain injury
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A 24-year-old woman was stabbed in the head with garden shears by a homeless man in Los Angeles last week, causing her brain damage.
Kyli Watts was walking down the street on Oct. 10 when Jonathan Cole, 30, approached her and stabbed her in the head with scissors in a completely unprovoked attack.
Watts was able to run away to a nearby cafe and ask her mother, a psychiatric nurse in North Carolina, for help. Friends say the four-inch blades got stuck in her head and doctors had to remove them surgically.
She survived the horrific attack but is still recovering at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, according to… KTLA.
Watts has been warned that the stabbing could cause permanent vision and balance problems. She lost her tech recruiting job weeks before the attack and has no medical insurance.
A GoFundMe is set up to help her and Kyli has to stay in the hospital for at least another week.
The police arrested Cole, who says he has no permanent address. He may be charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
Kyli Watts, 24, was stabbed in the back of the head on October 10 by garden shears while walking on a sidewalk in North Hollywood.
Surveillance footage shows Watts (white shirt, black pants) walking down the sidewalk as a man approaches her
The man, Jonathan Cole, 30, moves quickly to and from Watts, who is then seen holding the back of her head
She successfully made her way to a nearby cafe, where she then called for help
Watts’ mother, Amy, said she is angry about the attack but has no anger at Cole, who left her daughter with a traumatic brain injury.
“There is no contempt for this person, no anger, no bad feelings,” said the psychiatric nurse. ‘We have been a foster family for 15 years and care for a number of seriously mentally ill people. She understands that this is a very sick person.’
The attack on her daughter and others in cities across the US is the result of a “social and systemic failure” for the mentally ill, Amy said.
According to police, Cole ran into a man and woman at a bus stop after stabbing Watts. When the woman told him not to have her lighter, Cole threw a full jar of pickles at her and punched her in the shoulder.
The man then chased Cole to a nearby supermarket, where he was subsequently detained by police.
Both events were “random and completely unprovoked,” police said.
Kyli’s mother, Amy (right), says she has ‘no ill-respect’ for Cole, who left her daughter with a traumatic brain injury
Kyli is expected to remain in the hospital for another week and will have long-term problems with balance and vision during her recovery
“This is an issue that we as a society need to look at and think about what’s next, because this is only going to get worse,” Amy said.
In Los Angeles, the homicide rate has increased by 7% in the past year, while the crime rate in New York has increased by 19.6%.
LA’s awake officer George Gascon has come under fire for his soft-on-crime policies, which locals say are exacerbating the city’s crime problem.
As a result, he faces a potential recall.