A woman was killed and two others were injured in an apparently random stabbing in a Sierra Nevada foothills community said to have been carried out by a man on parole for attempted murder, the authorities.
The stabbings happened Monday at three locations in a neighborhood in the small town of Ione, police Chief John Alfred told reporters Tuesday. Ione is located in the county of Amador County and the state of Sacramento, in the southeast
All the victims had multiple stab wounds and a knife was recovered, the chief said. There does not appear to be any connection between the victims, and the violence appears to be random, he said.
A 34-year-old man was arrested on a street where two of the attacks took place.
“He is out of bail now,” said Alfred.
It was not immediately clear if criminal charges have been filed against the suspect or if he has an attorney who can speak for him. An email to the county district attorney’s office seeking that information was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Alfred said the man was released from prison in February and sent to Atascadero State Hospital, then went to Ione after his release from the hospital in July. The Atascadero facility is a secure psychiatric hospital for men sent there by the courts or the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Alfred said he has not yet investigated the case of attempted murder, which occurred in Ione in 2011.
The chief did not disclose the names of the victims, but the murdered woman was identified by her family as Lori Louise Owens, 63-years-old.
A man in his 20s was hospitalized in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries and a Pacific Gas & Electric worker was treated at a hospital and released, Alford said.
