School: Teen stabbed in Target store recovering

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A 16-year-old girl who was used as a shield and stabbed by a homeless man who fled into a downtown Target store after a fight was visiting Pittsburgh with her family while on spring break from her school in Tennessee, authorities said Tuesday.

Allison Meadows, who attends Silverdale Baptist Academy in Chattanooga, Tenn., is expected to fully recover from a collapsed lung and other wounds, the school said on its website. She was grabbed by her attacker Monday and stabbed, along with two men who were chasing him, as she stood in the checkout lanes with her family, police spokeswoman Diane Richard said Tuesday.

Police said Leon Raymond Walls, 41, ran into the store wielding a knife about 5:30 p.m. Monday after a fight nearby. Walls at first headed toward the restrooms in the back of the store in the East Liberty neighborhood and at least two men entered the store searching for him, police said. Witnesses said one of the men had a baseball bat.

Police said one of the men will need surgery to repair an injury to his face; the other man was treated for a hand injury and released. A police officer was taken to a hospital to be treated for pepper spray exposure. A bystander who helped subdue Walls complained of chest pains and also was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

Walls was in custody Tuesday. He was unable to post $250,000 bond, court records show, and no home address or attorney was listed for him.