Local News in Brief : Woman Stabbed to Death

A Hermosa Beach woman was stabbed and killed on the doorstep of her beachfront home Wednesday afternoon when a woman climbed over a three-foot wall surrounding the yard and attacked her, authorities said.

Police arrested a woman two blocks away and confiscated an eight-inch knife.

Investigators said they know of no motive for the killing of Gillian Mary Cooper, 40, on the patio of her large home on The Strand, the strip of expensive houses that abut a path used by thousands of pedestrians, bicyclists and skaters. Cooper was pronounced dead at South Bay Hospital about 45 minutes after the 1:30 p.m. stabbing, Hermosa Beach Police Lt. Michael Lavin said.

Cooper was on her patio with her mother, Lavin said, when a woman climbed over the wall and cursed at them. Cooper and her mother tried unsuccessfully to get into the house before the woman reached them, but the assailant stabbed Cooper once in the chest before fleeing.

Arrested soon after was Sharon K. Hendrix, 29, of Banning, police said. She was taken to Harbor UCLA Medical Center for treatment of a puncture wound to her leg, which she suffered before her arrest, Lt. Michael Lavin said.

It was the second homicide this year in Hermosa Beach, a city that usually has no more than two--if any--killings a year, Lavin said.