Photo by John Schreiber.
A toddler was pronounced dead Friday after being stabbed, allegedly by her drug-crazed father suspected of also setting their North Hollywood apartment on fire, jumping from a window and stabbing himself before being arrested.
The 13-month-old victim’s mother took her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to Officer Drake Madison of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Media Relations Section.
An officer answering an assault with a deadly weapon/man with a knife call about 2:05 p.m. in the 13200 block of Vanowen Street encountered a “somewhat combative” man — who was on fire with a steak knife protruding from his chest — and used less-than-lethal force to take him into custody, LAPD Capt. Steve Carmona said.
About the same time, firefighters were dispatched to the apartment blaze in the 13100 block of Vanowen, according to Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The suspect, who is 25 to 30 years old but was not immediately identified, was taken to a hospital. He is expected to survive and to be booked once medically cleared, police said.
Carmona said investigators found evidence that the suspect had used drugs — possibly methamphetamine.
The man, who had locked himself in the apartment and set it on fire, jumped from the second-floor unit and was on fire, with the knife sticking out of his chest, when officers confronted him in an alley, police said.
Initial reports indicated the girl had been thrown from a second-story window, but that turned out not to be the case.
— City News Service
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