CLEVELAND (WJW) — A Cuyahoga County judge has set a trial date for next fall in a civil lawsuit filed against Giant Eagle by the parents of a 3-year-old boy who was stabbed to death outside the company’s store in North Olmsted.
The horrifying attack on June 3, 2024, claimed the life of little Julian Wood, as he walked with his mother to their car. Julian’s mother, Margot Wood, was stabbed as she tried to shield her son from the attacker, 32-year-old Bionca Ellis.
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Surveillance video revealed that before the random attack, Ellis walked around the Giant Eagle with a stolen 10-inch knife in her hand, before following Julian and his mother into the parking lot, where she began stabbing the little boy without warning.
Julian’s parents filed the lawsuit against Giant Eagle in October 2024, and earlier this week, Common Pleas Judge John Spellacy set a trial date of Oct. 19, 2026.
The suit accuses Giant Eagle of negligence, contending the murder of the toddler could have been prevented if the store had not stopped stationing armed security guards near the entrance to the store. The complaint contends that Giant Eagle added the security in 2023, after a series of violent incidents, including the June 2023 murder of a female employee at the North Olmsted store by her ex-husband, who then killed himself.
According to the lawsuit, Giant Eagle management breached its duties by “failing to staff the supermarket with sufficient security personnel and/or with any security personnel at all, so as to deter harmful acts against supermarket customers such as Margot Wood and Julian Wood.”…