A Los Angeles-area woman has been taken into custody after police say she fatally stabbed her wife with a samurai sword, which she also allegedly used to attack her mother-in-law.
Weichien Huang, 44, has been booked for the July 18 murder of 47-year-old Chen Chen Fei, both of San Dimas, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday in a news release.
An investigation found that Huang and Fei were arguing inside their home last Thursday when the altercation turned deadly.
“At some point, Huang attacked Fei with a sword. Fei’s mother was also attacked and severely injured,” authorities said.
The mother-in-law – who they did not name – was ultimately “able to gain control of the sword and fled the residence looking for help”. She is in stable condition at a nearby hospital.
The plight of Fei’s mother was captured in footage broadcast by local outlets KTLA and ABC affiliate KABC.
In the footage, a bloodied woman looks fatigued as she drags the sword around the neighbourhood, seeking help. She left “a trail of blood up and down the sidewalk”, KABC reported.
Fei was pronounced dead at the scene, to which authorities responded at around 3.30pm on July 18, according to the sheriff’s department’s initial news release.
Authorities initially struggled to make headway in the investigation due to the survivors speaking only Mandarin, as previously reported by KTLA.
“Shocked” and “stunned” neighbour Trinh Garcia told KABC-TV that those involved “were quiet people”.
“They only came out to get the mail, open the garage, take the trash out,” Garcia said. “Other than that, they were quiet people.”
It remains unclear what sparked the fatal argument.
