A knife-wielding man stabbed his mother to death in an Irvine neighborhood Thursday before he was fatally shot by police in what marked the second officer-involved shooting in the city this week.
At around 2:50 p.m., a bystander told 911 operators that a man was attacking a woman in the area of Green Tree Lane, near Coral Tree Lane, said Kyle Oldoerp, a spokesman for the Irvine Police Department. The man was seen attacking the woman in the roadway in front of a residence when officers arrived.
At least one officer shot the suspect, authorities said. Both the victim and suspect were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said Thursday evening that the knife-wielding man was the adult son of the woman he stabbed. Their identities were not immediately released.
Dave King, a resident along Green Tree Lane, said he heard at least six gunshots from his home Thursday afternoon.
“I was on a Zoom call for work. I hung up, secured my house, made sure my daughter was safe,” King said. He saw a man on the driveway, and noticed he was lying motionless before he saw the woman lying nearby.
A motive for the stabbing is under investigation, Oldoerp said.
King said he believed the victim and suspect were a mother and son, and that the son had recently gotten out of prison and was living at the family’s home.
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The police shooting marks the second one in Irvine this week, following the fatal stabbing on Monday of a disabled man by a man who police said was his former caregiver. Aaron Matthew, 47, killed 38-year-old John Alexander Bash III before later confronting police with a knife, which led to his being fatally shot, police said.
Irvine officials have long touted FBI data showing that for many years, Irvine has had the lowest per capita violent crime rate of any city in the nation with a population of 250,000 or more. That statistic led to the city’s moniker as “America’s Safest City.”
“It’s still a great city. This happens everywhere, all over the country. It’d be more concerning if it was random. But it’s not. It’s targeted,” said nearby resident Brad Hoffman.
Referring to the two deaths on Thursday, Irvine Councilmember Tammy Kim said there has been an increase in domestic violence problems “stemming from a lot of mental health issues that are going around.”
“This is something that I think we as a city, we’re really looking at,” Kim said. “I don’t want these domestic violence issues to keep creeping up because they’re becoming more and more violent, and a lot of times it’s either drug addiction or outright mental health issues that they’re not getting.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
