An Asian woman was stabbed to death while walking with her dogs in California in what police call a random attack.
Ke Chieh Meng, 64, was away from home with her two puppies in Riverside around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, when she was stabbed and left on the ground bleeding, KTLA-TV reported.
Officers who responded to the scene found her on the ground and took Meng to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to the station.
Meng’s alleged assailant Darlene Stephanie Montoya, 23, was identified by police as transient. She was arrested near the scene and charged with what police described as a “completely random” attack.
“There was nothing to suggest the victim was attacked because of his ethnicity,” Riverside Police Department spokesman Ryan Railsback said Sunday.
“We will try to investigate [the suspect’s] the history of drug abuse and its history of mental health, “Railsback said, adding that police officers” do not close the door on anything. “
Montoya was admitted to the Robert Presley Detention Center on suspicion of murder and also charged with being under the influence of a controlled substance and ordered detention without bail, CNN reported.
Montoya was last arrested on March 30 and charged with assault with a deadly weapon after attacking a woman with a skateboard near a local mall, but was released without bail due to the restrictions of the COVID-19.
Railsback said the victim in that case was a white woman.