Boy on field trip injured in attack outside Disney Concert Hall

A man grabbed a young boy around the neck Thursday outside the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown L.A., where the boy was on a field trip, authorities said.

The group was on the concert hall’s front steps around 3:30 p.m. when the man approached and put his arm around the boy’s neck, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Bob Killeen. Nearby security officers saw the incident and intervened.

The students were at the concert hall to watch a chorale rehearsal.

The man, whose name has not been released, will undergo a mental health evaluation, Killeen said. The attack appeared to be random, he added.

The boy, thought to be about 10 years old, was taken to a hospital for scratches that may have come from a set of keys investigators believe the man was holding, Killeen said. The boy “was in good shape,” the lieutenant said, and was alert and talking after the incident.

“He’s a real trouper,” Killeen said.

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