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Galleria murder a kidnapping gone wrong
by Jason Dietrich
A
Bel Air woman was killed Tuesday during what police say was a failed kidnapping
and robbery attempt outside a Redondo Beach shopping center.
Diane Bragg, 67, was stabbed repeatedly outside the South Bay Galleria in full view of dozens of shoppers and lunchtime diners after she bailed out of her white 1998 Mercedes 320 ML SUV. She died hours later at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
Two workmen tackled the suspect as he fled from the scene and held him until police arrived. The Redondo Beach Police Department arrested Joshua Lee, 22, of Hawthorne in connection with the attack.
Tuesday afternoon a pair of new black pumps lay askew on the pavement outside the mall entrance nearest the Red Robin restaurant. Less than 10 feet away, but across puddles of blood, lay a folding knife with a four-inch blade, glinting in the sun. Around the corner, a pair of bloody gloves marked the spot where the suspect was knocked down by bystanders and held for police.
"This was a kidnapping in progress with intent to rob, that turned into a murder," said Redondo Beach Police Capt. Jeff Cameron.
Witnesses said Bragg had a lunch date with a friend at the Galleria at South Bay mall. Police said she was driving alone through the mall parking lot at a low speed. In the parking lot, a man forced his way into the driver’s side rear seat of the car.
"He told her he’d kill her if she didn’t cooperate," said Cameron.
As the Mercedes neared the Red Robin restaurant, Bragg rolled out of the vehicle. The man followed her, abandoning the car.
A valet parking attendant, who asked not to be named, said he was reading a magazine at the R and B valet stand outside the California Pizza Kitchen near the entrance to the mall around 11.25 a.m. He looked up from his copy of "Sporting News" to see Bragg’s car slowly rolling towards him. It came to rest half up on the curb.
Shielded from the events that were unfolding by the bulk of the car, the valet said he heard screams and ran around the side of the vehicle.
"He looked like he was punching her. I didn’t even see the knife at first. She was screaming ‘No! No!’ and kicking at him. He couldn’t get a straight shot because she was kicking and hitting him," the valet said.
The whole attack lasted about 30 seconds, the valet said.
Greg McCorkell, 21, and Jason Campbell, 20, were repairing a neon sign in the Red Robin restaurant when the stabbing occurred. Hearing the screams of onlookers, they rushed outside to see what was going on in time to see Lee stand up.
"He had his hands out to the side with his palms up, and he was just walking away," said McCorkell.
"He was covered in blood and he just casually dropped the knife and walked off. Then he started running. There were 30 people watching the whole thing and no one did anything," he added.
Campbell and McCorkell sprinted after the fleeing Lee. McCorkell, a former tight end for Corona High School, caught up to Lee and shoved him down with both his hands.
"He kind of rolled around and stared up at me. He looked like he was in shock or something, he wasn’t saying a word," McCorkell said.
"I told him to stay there and not to get up," said Campbell.
"We asked him why he did it and he said ‘I tried to rob the f__ing bitch, but she wasn’t taking me seriously. So I f__ing stabbed her.’" McCorkell said.
Redondo Beach Police arrived moments later, arresting Lee.
Paramedics arrived soon after, treating Bragg and transporting her to Harbor UCLA Medical Center.
"She was just laying there shaking, clutching her chest," the valet said.
"There were a couple of doctors who had seen what had happened and were helping her. They were holding her legs up. She was cut up on the left side of her body, her arms, her chest and once in her neck," the valet said.
Investigators obtained a confession from Lee during questioning Tuesday night, police said. Lee had what police called a "minor" criminal record. He was scheduled for arraignment Wednesday afternoon, after Easy Reader’s press deadline.
"Make no mistake, this man is a cold blooded predator. He had a plan. He went to the Galleria trying to find an easy target with a lot of money. This mall was probably the closest mall that he could get to. It could have been any other place in the Greater Los Angeles area. In terms of the number of police, security guards and security measures, the Galleria is one of the safest places you can be in Southern California," Cameron said.
Campbell and McCorkell, both from Corona, had seen Lee when they pulled up to mall, sitting on a post outside Nordstrom’s department store.
"He looked like he was only 17 or 18, waiting for a ride from his mom. He didn’t look like a troublemaker," Campbell said.
The two are no strangers to trouble. Three weeks ago a friend of McCorkell was stabbed in a robbery attempt in Corona, he said. When his friend told McCorkell about it, McCorkell believed he knew the suspected assailant, and drove to the man’ house in his mother’s 2001 Nissan Sentra.
"He just came out shooting. He hit the car twice, one shattered the back window and one went through the middle headrest and lodged itself in the roof," McCorkell said.
"This kind of stuff happens a lot more often where we live, so when it does, we don’t just sit back shocked, we react positively," said Campbell. ER