Homeless man charged with trying to kill 6

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A homeless California man was sentenced to 433 years in prison for attempting to kill six female shop owners while robbing their Long Beach businesses.

Charles Juan Proctor, 45, was also convicted of kidnapping, robbery and mayhem during the course of robbing the shops, one of which is in Hawaiian Gardens, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

Between February and May 2008, Proctor stole $35 to $700 from the shops, which included a clothing boutique, bridal salon and beauty shops, and threatened, stabbed, slashed or strangled six female shop owners, who were of varying age and race, Deputy District Attorney Carol Rose said.

All of the women survived, but victims testified they continue to be traumatized by Proctor's attacks, the Times reported.

Proctor slashed a 1/4-inch-wide gash on one woman's throat, and thrust a knife into another woman's throat and twisted it when she resisted, then repeatedly cut her face, Rose said.

"Each of the victims in his path was shown to be in complete and utter terror of his attack," Rose said.

Proctor left DNA on a cellphone case at one of the crime scenes, which linked him to the incidents through records of his genetic material in Nevada where he had been arrested for assault in Las Vegas in 2007, Rose said.

A conviction in Las Vegas came after the Long Beach and Hawaiian Gardens attacks. Proctor had fled back to Nevada after the last California attack, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported.

Rose said Proctor will serve nine years in Nevada for his conviction there, then return to California for the rest of his sentences.