1 Painter Killed, 1 Wounded in Bizarre Beverly Hills Stabbing

Officials said it remains a mystery why a man drove into a Beverly Hills parking garage Wednesday morning, pulled a knife and wounded a worker painting the structure and then attacked and killed a co-worker who came to the first victim’s aid.

Without a word, the assailant then got back in his car and drove away, said Sgt. John Edmundson of the Beverly Hills Police Department.

“There’s no apparent motive for the attacks,” Edmundson said.

The victims were white and the assailant was black, but police said there was no evidence that race played a role or that the attack was a hate crime.

It was believed to be the first homicide in the community in more than four years.

The victims in Wednesday’s attack were part of a crew that was refurbishing the ground-level garage that extends under a Wells Fargo office building in the 9300 block of Wilshire Boulevard, Edmundson said. He said that about 6:50 a.m., as the crew was preparing to take down some scaffolding, the car drove up and the assailant, about 45 to 50 years old, got out.

“He approached the men and, without provocation, began stabbing one of them,” Edmundson said. “A co-worker who came to [the victim’s] aid was fatally stabbed.”

Officers arrived moments after someone called 911, but by then, the assailant had fled in a large, late-1980s sedan, Edmundson said.

A kitchen-type knife apparently used in the attack was found lying on the pavement.

Both victims were taken to a nearby hospital. One was pronounced dead on arrival and the other, who was able to tell police what had happened, was not believed to have suffered life-threatening wounds, Edmundson said.

The names of the victims were not released.