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Victim's Friend Describes Horrific Scene In Stabbing Attack In Heart Of Hollywood
Last night a woman was stabbed to death at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland right in the bustling tourist center of Hollywood. Christina Christine Calderon, 23, of Lynwood died in surgery just a few hours after being attacked by panhandlers.
A man who identified himself as Calderon's companion that night agreed to speak with LAist on the condition of anonymity. He described what happened and shared a photo he took shortly before the incident. He says Calderon's phone has a similar image. (We spoke to LAPD Detective John Skaggs who confirmed the suspects they picked up had the same sign.)
He said that he and Calderon had decided to go out to have a couple of drinks in Hollywood when they happened upon the two men pictured above. He said they thought the signs were funny, so they joked about it, snapped some photos and walked away. One of them shouted at them: "If you're going to take our fucking pictures, you need to give us money."
They told them to "fuck off," and then walked away. As they began to cross the street, the men attacked. A third man appeared and "got in [her] face" and wrestled her in the first lane of Hollywood Boulevard. One of the other men shouted, "Let's go, fuck it."
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Calderon's companion told LAist everything happened so fast he couldn't even tell exactly which man stabbed Calderon.
He pulled the third man off her, and he carried her to the elevator that goes down to the Metro Station at the intersection. Right away, he noticed that she was covered in blood. He pulled up her shirt and saw a 5 to 7 inch gash across her ribs. He tried to make a 9-1-1 call but realized he couldn't make a call from underground. He pushed the elevator button to go back up right away and call for an ambulance.
A Metro police officer spoke to him and took him down to the Hollywood precinct. After waiting around three hours, he said he wanted to go visit Calderon but the officers told him to wait a bit longer to tell his story of what happened. He said he told the story several times, and after he told it the third time, they informed him that Calderon had died at Cedars-Sinai.
He found out that the two men were arrested later that evening not far from where Calderon was stabbed, and he found out the third was arrested this morning.
"She takes care of her mother who is disabled. She's a remarkable woman," he told LAist. He added: "It wasn't worth all this."
Update 6/20: The suspects in the case have been identified as Dustin Kinnear, 27, Jason Wolstone, 33, and Brian Widdows, 34, according to City News Service. The men are being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
Related:
Mother Of Woman Stabbed To Death In Hollywood Says Daughter's Death Was A Hate Crime
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