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Long Beach Police arrest man in stabbing death of 9-year-old girl www.privateofficer.com
Long Beach Police Department said the 9-year-old girl was killed with lacerations allegedly made by her father or stepfather, who had cut himself on several parts of his body. The man was hospitalized in custody, and was in stable condition and will be charged with murder and jailed, police said.
Department spokesperson Nancy Pratt said the girl and parent would not immediately be named, and the L.A. County Coroner’s office told media it was still trying to contact other relatives.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that the suspect and victim, both Long Beach residents, shared a parent/child relationship,” Pratt said “It is believed that the suspect caused these injuries to the victim and then attempted to commit suicide.”
But a motive for the attack is unknown at this time and the investigation remains ongoing.
Earlier Saturday, Pratt had confirmed the location of the bodies was near Los Altos United Methodist Church, which is located on Willow Avenue near the 405 Freeway, but could offer few preliminary details.
But reporters on the scene interviewed the first 9-1-1 caller, Nancy Eomuria, and a neighbor several blocks from the park heard about the case. There was another woman who lived a few blocks away, but she told Eyewitness that her husband had seen an adult man and a little girl waling down the street Friday night, and found it odd enough to consider callling the police. Sadly, he did not all police.
“I just thought they were two bodies that were dumped there,” said
Nancy Eomurian, who called 911 and who was interviewed on camera by ABC local affiliate. “He was … conscious looking back toward me,but there was blood everywhere.”
City News Service reported that the bodies were face down, but did not sight a source.
In the Eyewitness News Report, the station said:
“Police looked for clues in a pick-up truck parked outside Linda Jones’s house three blocks from where the girl’s body was found. Jones says she and her husband were home Friday night and heard car doors slamming. Jones’s husband looked outside and saw a man walking away with a young girl.
“He said ‘I actually thought about going after them,’” she said. “Just because it was unusual, it was so late at night. But he didn’t do that.”
The suspect will be formally arrested on suspicion of murder, charged and jailed once he can be released from the hospital, police spokeswoman Pratt said.
Long Beach police are investigating a note that appeared to be written in blood on a wall next to where a young girl’s bloody body was discovered Saturday morning in a Long Beach parking lot.
She was found next to a man who might be her father or stepfather, who was still alive but suffering from self-inflicted wounds, police said.
KTLA News showed video of the note, which consisted of several large letters written in red on the side of a wall next to where both were found. The exact message could not be made out, but KTLA said the police believe it was written in blood and consider it evidence in the case.
The man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. The girl, 9, had fatal cuts to her upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Long Beach police declined to name the man.
Officers arrived at the parking lot off Willow Street and Woodruff Avenue, next to the 405 Freeway and a church, after getting a call around 11 a.m. from a passerby.
Police would not say whether a weapon was found at scene. The man, who was also lying in the parking lot, is still at a hospital and in stable condition.
Both the man and the girl were Long Beach residents. Long Beach police spokeswoman Nancy Pratt said investigators were trying to determine a motive for the slaying. “That’s something we all want to know,” she said.
Some nearby residents held a prayer vigil for the girl Saturday night at the site.
