A father and daughter were killed in the parking lot of a Kohl's department store in Palmdale on Thursday afternoon, and with a man in custody, investigators are now trying to determine what led up to the crime.
Detectives were in the Kohl's parking lot for over 12 hours on Thursday, canvassing the area and processing the scene as they searched for evidence.
Callers reached out to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department just after noon to report multiple people stabbed in the 39800 block of 10th Street West.
The two victims were a man in his 60s and a woman in her 20s, according to the LA County Coroner.
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They were later identified as 22-year-old Makenna Evans and her father, Kenneth Evans.
"Everybody's devastated. And the thought that her dad also died, it's so tragic. Everything is so tragic," Elizabeth Evans, the victims' wife and mother said.
The LA County Sheriff's department says the alleged attacker appeared to be living in his car at the shopping center.
Kenneth was also living there and Makenna was visiting him when investigators say the man asked them for help with his car.
That's when a fight broke out and the man began to attack them in front of Kohl's.
Kenneth died at the hospital. Makenna died at the scene.
"Next week, she was taking her state board exam to have her license as an esthetician. She was a make up artist. She loved tattoos and she loved Jesse," the mother said.
"When I got here, I checked the first spot they were in. They weren't there. And I checked over here and their car was covered in police tape," Jesse Mercado, Makenna's boyfriend, said.
Makenna's boyfriend Jesse says they had been living together and he had plans to propose next year.
He says Makenna came to visit her dad, who he says was planning to move away soon.
"I tried to keep my cool but the moment they were telling me that, People were telling me stop, don’t go. I ran towards those two cars to see if she was OK. If I could just hold her one more time or anything. I just needed to see her," Mercado said.
One witness told NBC4 that she, and her two young children, had just left a store nearby when they watched a man brutally attack the young woman in the parking lot. She did not want to be identified.
"I see a lady running, and a guy just stabbing her from behind, from the side of her stomach" she said. "He got towards her chest, and then he dropped her. He walks away, like going towards his vehicle, comes back running, stabs her a couple more times in the stomach. And she falls again to the ground.
"Then he kicks her, walks away, comes back, pulls her hair and drags her," she said.
The man was detained at the scene of the stabbing. By 11 a.m. on Friday, he had been officially arrested.
Detectives from the LASD also said the stabbing took place after an argument between the three people.
"Investigators learned all parties involved where parked in the parking lot of the location and appeared to live in their vehicles," the LASD said in a statement. "The suspect had asked the male adult victim for assistance regarding his vehicle, during which an argument ensued. The argument led to a physical fight and ultimately the stabbing of both victims."
It is not yet clear whether the three individuals knew each other before the stabbing took place.
