Children Found Stabbed to Death in Car Outside School

Three children between the ages of 8 and 12 were found stabbed to death in the back of an SUV parked outside an elementary school in South Los Angeles today, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Police say a man suspected to be the children's father was found in the front seat alive but bleeding from multiple stab wounds to his chest. A knife was located in the passenger seat of the car, and police believe they have the person responsible in custody, though they are not releasing any further information on the suspect. "These are horrific incidents," Chief Charlie Beck says. "It is a sad day in LA."

A nearby business owner was the first to call 911. "I saw this man behind the steering wheel covered in blood," he says. "I got a little bit closer, and I saw a young child in the back seat, and his eyes were half open and he was covered in blood. He was staring out, just in space. It's still etched in my mind." The man found in the front seat was taken to the hospital in critical condition. The three children were declared dead at the scene. "We're in South-Central, so stuff like that kind of happens around here. But the fact that it's children—that's heart-wrenching," says a father of five who saw the crime scene. "It's hard to think about." (More crime stories.)