MIRA MESA, Calif. (KGTV) — One person is dead and another is wounded following a stabbing at a home in San Diego's Mira Mesa neighborhood Friday afternoon.
According to the San Diego Police Department, officers received a call just before 3 p.m. about a stabbing in the 8600 block of Pagoda Way.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found both victims suffering from stab wounds. Lieutenant Jud Campbell said that one of the victims was an 87-year-old woman who was pronounced dead at the scene.
The other victim was a 59-year-old woman who was taken to the hospital and is in critical condition. Campbell said it's believed at this time the two are mother and daughter and lived at the home where the stabbing took place.
The names and ages of the victims have not been released to the public yet, and police say they are not sure what led to the deadly assault.
"I think that the question of the day, right? What the relationship here. That's something we're working very hard to figure out right now so we can figure out exactly what this is," Campbell said.
Police said that they are searching for a suspect who they described as a thin-build man in his 40s to 50s, wearing a maroon shirt and blue jeans. Authorities said the suspect is driving a small gray SUV possibly with out-of-state license plates.
Given the fact that the suspect fled the scene in a vehicle, Campbell said typically the Police Department does alert Border Patrol of who they are looking for in a case like this.
"Obviously we don’t want someone to stumble across this person and not be aware that we’re investigating something," Campbell said.
"Communication goes a long way and that can be thing that tips someone off, ‘Hey, I should contact San Diego Police,’ and hopefully we can start putting the pieces together.”
Neighbors came out of their homes on Friday afternoon wondering what the commotion was just as the scene was unfolding. One neighbor Matt Golchin said he had just gotten home when he saw the scene.
He told ABC 10News that when he asked a man walking the street what happened, the man said that the victim was his grandmother.
"I literally was walking over here and I was just talking to him. And he was just saying yeah that was my...Said they were really nice people and they didn't deserve what happened to them," Golchin said.
Until more answers come to light, some neighbors say they're going to keep their eyes open as they wonder what happened.
"That's crazy! So who would do that to an 87-year-old?" Vivian Radam, a neighbor, said.
“They're 87. They don't have strength to fight anymore."
