Man arrested for stabbing girlfriend and toddler

A man was in custody today for allegedly attacking his live-in girlfriend and her 2-year-old daughter in their home in the Jefferson Park area of Los Angeles, killing the toddler and leaving her mother hospitalized in critical condition. The knife attack in the 3500 block of Arlington Avenue took place about 9:50 p.m. Monday, said Sgt. Carlton Brown, the watch commander at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Southwest Division. Lataz Gray, 22, was booked on suspicion of murder and attempted murder and was being held without bail, said LAPD Officer Drake Madison. The child and her mother were taken to a hospital, where the girl died and her mother underwent surgery and was listed in stable condition, said LAPD Officer Liliana Preciado. Their names were not immediately released. Preciado said she could not confirm media reports that the woman was five months pregnant, but ABC7 said the unborn child is expected to survive. The suspect was not the toddler’s father, as initially thought, according to police, who said the attack occurred during a domestic dispute. At a news conference this morning, police said the suspect’s father provided detectives with information that led to the arrest.”A 2-year-old innocent victim, stabbed multiple times … this was one of the most vicious incidents that I have seen and been part of in my 28 years in this police department,”LAPD Capt. Peter Whittingham said. Phillip Gray told Channel 7 that his son called him from a hospital, where he was being treated for cuts to his hand, and he told his son to turn himself in. Well, I had to, before they kill(ed) him,”Gray said.”I hooked him up on the line with the detective.”Gray added that the crime was “a terrible terrible thing, and I’m not feeling good about it at all.” (The woman) is a beautiful person, and it blew me out of the water for this to happen,” Gray said. “But like I said, I really don’t know what happened …”