The Associated Press
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A woman and 1-year-old boy were killed and a 3-year-old girl was wounded in a triple stabbing on Wednesday near San Jose, authorities said.
The three were found at a home in an unincorporated area by a family member around 3:30 p.m., Santa Clara County Deputy Kurtis Stenderup said. The girl was in stable condition at a hospital, he said.
The slain 48-year-old woman was the children’s grandmother and was babysitting them, authorities said. The victims’ names have not been officially released.
Authorities say a relative who is a “person of interest” was detained late Wednesday.
After an intense search for several hours, Ruben Ramirez, 27, was taken into custody without incident Wednesday night in San Francisco with the help of U.S. Marshals and police, authorities said.
Investigators want to know if Ramirez was home at the time of the stabbings. “We have no other persons of interest at this time,” Santa Clara County Undersheriff John Hirokawa said.
Hirokawa who would not identify Ramirez as a suspect.
While Hirokawa did not say how Ramirez is related to the family, other relatives told KNTV-TV Wednesday that he was the childrens’ uncle and the slain woman was his mother.
Ramirez suffers from mental health problems and authorities have had prior contact with him, Stenderup said.
Arturo Maries, pastor of the Las Palmas Jehovah’s Witness Congregation nearby, told the San Jose Mercury News that the woman fatally stabbed comes from a large family who attended his church regularly.
“They are a normal family; they go to church all the time except for the one who has a sickness,” said Maries, referring to Ramirez.
Maries also said that family members had voiced concerns that Ramirez had not been taking his medication for his mental condition. Authorities have not yet offered a motive for the killings.