Friends and colleagues have been mourning a veteran Los Angeles nurse who police say was struck in the face without any provocation by a homeless man as she waited for a bus to take her to work last week, resulting in her death three days later.
Sandra Shells, 70, succumbed to her injuries on Sunday at LAC+USC Medical Center, where she had worked for 38 years.
Police arrested Kerry Bell, 48, a transient man with criminal histories in multiple states, charging him in connection with Shell's death.
Just hours after the attack on Shells, a 24-year-old UCLA graduate student was stabbed to death by another homeless man inside a Los Angeles furniture store.
The back-to-back killings come amid a massive crime wave that has engulfed Los Angeles, where murder, assault and shooting rates are all on the rise, with its progressive District Attorney George Gascon facing mounting scrutiny for failing to stop the violence.
LA nurse Sandra Shells, 70 (left and right) was attacked at random at a bus stop on Thursday. She died of her injuries three days later at the hospital where she worked
Police said Kerry Bell, a homeless man, struck Shells in the face as she was waiting for a bus at this stop near Union Station in Downtown LA
Shells' colleagues have been leaving candles and flowers at the bus stop where she was attacked.
Two vigils are scheduled to take place on Wednesday at that location to honor Shells' life.
'Sandy was a very hard worker. Very private person, stayed to herself but she was always working. I think her whole job, her whole life, was just helping other people,' Shells' neighbor Liz Anderson told ABC7. 'Her personality would effect anybody. A very caring person that just loved everybody, and I know that this community will really, she's just going to be missed.'
Anderson said Shells has a lemon tree growing in her backyard and would give lemons to people.
'You couldn't meet anybody nicer than Sandy. When I think about it, it just breaks my heart. I'm having a hard time with this.'
Roh Arline, Shells' colleague at LAC+USC, wrote on Facebook: 'I know we aren’t to question God, but i truly do not understand how something so terrible and senseless could happen to such a humble and joyful person.'
Shells was attacked by a homeless man at about 5.15 a.m. on Thursday near Vignes Street and Cesar Chavez Avenue, half a mile away from Union Station, while she was waiting to catch a bus to her job at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Bell, her suspected attacker, allegedly punched Shells in the face, leading the nurse to hit her head on the ground, likely striking it against the concrete. As a result of her fall, Shell suffered a fractured skull.
Bell was arrested without incident on suspicion of assault, but his charge will be updated to suspicion of murder, according to police.
No motive for the unprovoked attack has been revealed. Bell is being held on $2million bail, according to jail records.
