Police: California Woman Fatally Stabbed with Samurai Sword in Domestic Dispute

A selectively lit samurai sword on a black background
Getty Images/Nastasic

A Southern California woman was fatally stabbed with a samurai sword in what investigators believe was a domestic dispute, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

Deputies responded to a report of a domestic disturbance in the city of San Dimas at around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, arriving to find the body of a woman who suffered stab wounds, the department said in a press release

They first encountered a woman carrying a sword with blood on her right leg, KTLA reported

Footage obtained by the outlet shows the unidentified woman waving down the approaching deputies before laying down the sword and putting her hands in the air to comply with their orders:

“That female then directs them to a residence on the street where the deputies find an additional female also suffering from lacerations, who was later pronounced dead at the scene,” LASD Lt. Daniel Vizcarra told KTLA reporters. “As they continued through the residence, an additional female was found in the residence unharmed, who was also transferred to a local hospital due to a medical emergency.”

That medical emergency is suspected to have been a heart attack, the outlet noted. 

The motive behind the stabbing is still unclear, as the sword-bearing woman appears to only speak Mandarin Chinese. 

“The preliminary investigation suggests that there may be a family connection, but again, because of the language barrier, we have not confirmed that,” Lt. Vizcarra explained

No arrests have been made as of Friday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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