A beloved California art gallery manager who was writing an illustrated children’s book has been stabbed to death in broad daylight.
Rachell Summers, 73, was stabbed 11 times outside Capitola Mall in Santa Cruz County on Monday in what investigators have called a random act of violence.
Tyler Leibelt, 19, has been charged with murder while lying in wait and using a deadly weapon, court records show. He has not entered a plea.
Prosecutors allege that Leibelt planned to kill someone before he went to the mall and even purchased knives just minutes before he carried out his deadly attack.
He considered several possible victims before attacking the 73-year-old, according to charging documents obtained by ABC 7.
Summers managed the Art of Santa Cruz, a nonprofit gallery situated inside the mall.
She had gone to the gallery to pick up a check and was walking to the bank when Leibelt allegedly attacked her.
Summers, who was also a published author, became a grandmother for the first time last year and had been working on a children’s book at the time of her death.
Not random. He chose, out of several people, a white, female, low-resistance target. The intent was to kill.