Children Stabbed: Los Angeles Tragedy Involves 3 Brothers Found Dead Inside SUV Across From Elementary School

Three children stabbed in Los Angeles involved a trio of brothers found dead inside an SUV across the street from a south L.A. elementary school.

ABC News reports that the brothers found stabbed inside the van died of multiple stab wounds. All of them were ages 8 to 12, police reveal. A man sitting in the front seat — presumed to be the boys’ father — was bleeding from his chest with stab wounds, according to the Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck.

The three boys were pronounced dead at the hospital while the man was listed in critical condition.

A knife was recovered in the front passenger seat of the SUV.

Beck says that police believe they have a suspect detained in the incident, but declined to identify the person or give specifics.

Beck says that the children stabbed in Los Angeles has “scarred” the community and first responders.

“These are horrific incidents. These are incidents that have scarred not only a community but the first responders that have to handle them.”

The police chief calls it “a sad day in LA.”

John Sorrentino owns a furniture store next to where the boys were found. It was he who first noticed something terribly wrong and called 911.

“I saw this man behind the steering wheel covered in blood. I got a little bit closer, and I saw a young child in the back seat and his eyes were half open and he was covered in blood.

“He was staring out, just in space. It’s still etched in my mind.”

Upon exploring the horrendous scene closer, Sorrentino spotted another boy bent over a seat, with the leg of a third boy lying up upright. At that point, he called police.

While the three boys weren’t students of the elementary school across the street from where they were found stabbed, they were enrolled in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Beck goes on to say that the children’s mother is deceased and that their stepmother is being interviewed by detectives.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the three boys found stabbed were discovered on 7 a.m. on Wednesday. There was no record of a custody battle between the parents over the children, so there’s nothing incriminating on that front.

LAPD Det. Meghan Aguilar says that police are trying to learn what the children and the man injured inside the SUV were doing in the area.

Aguilar says that since the three children stabbed in Los Angeles were found, it’s “very emotional” for police.

[Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images]