2 Children Found Fatally Stabbed; Father Wounded

The bodies of two children and their critically wounded father, all stabbed, were found inside a Highland Park apartment Friday.

Police said a neighbor entered the apartment in the 5600 block of North Ash Street at 4:30 p.m., saw the bloodied man and ran out screaming for someone to call paramedics. She apparently had not seen the children, said Los Angeles Police Lt. Art Miller.

Paramedics came upon the bodies of the 4-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy.

Miller said no one reported hearing a struggle, but the children had been stabbed multiple times and the father had suffered more than one stab wound. He was in critical condition Friday night, undergoing surgery. A knife believed to be the weapon was found at the scene, Miller said.

None of the victims’ names was released.

Miller said the father had not been named as a suspect, but he “is a person of interest to us. We want to talk to him.”

All three were found in the same bedroom of the two-bedroom apartment. Miller said the children apparently had died one to two hours before paramedics arrived.

The mother, Miller said, was believed to have been at work. The woman who came upon the scene was a neighbor; other residents said it was not uncommon for neighbors to enter one another’s apartments.

Miller said the family apparently had no other children.

Jam Arciga, 34, who lives in a unit nearby, said the family moved in two weeks ago, and both parents had been looking for work. She said she saw the man leave daily on his job search.

“I would see him with his hat and his lunch in his hand, and he waited for the bus every day,” she said.

Arciga said she often saw the father and children walking to the store, and that Thursday night the three of them had barbecued in the courtyard and played with a large rubber ball.

“The little kids were happy,” she said. “He looked like he was a good father.”