A Montgomery County jury ordered Nordstrom to pay nearly $1.6 million to two women stabbed inside its Bethesda store six years ago, concluding that the retailer did not adequately warn shoppers that a woman armed with four butcher knives was on the loose, attorneys said Monday.
In a separate matter linked to the attacks, a judge recently recommended that the assailant, Antoinette Starks, 54, be released from a state psychiatric hospital, according to court records. She was declared not criminally responsible after the incident and has been compliant with her treatment, has taken medications daily and has displayed a “very good” work ethic inside Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, the judge concluded.
Starks, armed with knives, entered Nordstrom at Westfield Montgomery mall on May 25, 2005, and chased shoppers. She was stopped by an off-duty FBI agent, who pulled out his service weapon. Starks had been released from prison the previous day after serving 16 months for malicious destruction of property.
Full Story: Jury orders Nordstrom to pay $1.6 million to Bethesda stabbing victims – The Washington Post