Three young boys were found stabbed to death and covered in blood inside an SUV in South Los Angeles Wednesday, and a man believed to be their father was taken to a hospital suffering from critical stab wounds.
Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said the three boys ranged in age from 8 to 12, and he said police have the suspect in custody. He would not confirm, however, if the suspect is the man who was also found inside the vehicle with stab wounds.
“We believe him to be the father of the kids, but we do not know that for a fact,” Beck said of the wounded man. “The biological mother of the children we believe to be deceased. We believe there is a stepmother, and she is safe.”
Beck confirmed that investigators recovered a knife at the scene.
Police responded to the SUV in the 300 block of East 32nd Street just before 7 a.m. on a report of an assault with a deadly weapon, Beck said.
A man who works near the scene told KNX Newsradio he was walking by the SUV and saw the man in the front seat, and he appeared to have blood on him. As he approached the vehicle, he saw a boy he believed to be about 7 or 8 years old—motionless with his eyes wide open and covered in blood. The man told KNX he then noticed at least one other body in the back seat, and he saw what appeared to be a box-cutter in the vehicle.
The bodies were found near Dolores Huerta Elementary School, but it was unclear if the children may have attended the school.
“These are horrific incidents,” Beck said. “These are incidents that scare not only a community but the first responders who have to handle them. It is a sad day in Los Angeles, made only slightly better by the fact that we have a probable suspect in custody.”
The discovery of the bodies came amid a rash of deadly violence in South Los Angeles that police have attributed to a raging war between rival gangs.
Police have responded by sending more officers from the LAPD’s elite Metropolitan Division into the area.
“I take this personally,” said City Councilman Curren Price, who represents the area. “I live right around the corner, and I pass this way many times, been to the school many times. And to know that the kids that are back and forth here—full of life, full of vibrancy—and that these three are gone. We’re going to be working closely with the community, with the police, others in the community to create a fund in memory of these youngsters and provide some support to the family and we ask the community to join us providing resources as a way of expressing our condolences but also providing assistance for the future.”
