A stabbing attack that killed 1 woman and wounded 2 men appears to be random, California police say

IONE, Calif. (AP) — A woman was killed and two other people wounded in an apparently random stabbing rampage in a Sierra Nevada foothills community allegedly carried out by a man who was on parole for attempted murder, authorities said.

The stabbings occurred Monday at three locations in a neighborhood in the small city of Ione, police Chief John Alfred told reporters Tuesday. Ione is in the foothills of Amador County southeast of Sacramento.

All the victims had multiple stab wounds and a knife was recovered, the chief said. There did not appear to be any connection between the victims, and the violence appeared to be random, he said.

A 34-year-old man was arrested on a street where two of the attacks occurred.

“He’s being held on no bail right now,” Alfred said.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether criminal charges had been filed against the suspect or whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. An email to the county district attorney’s office seeking that information wasn’t immediately returned Wednesday.

Alfred said the man was released from prison in February and sent to Atascadero State Hospital, then came to Ione after his release from the hospital in July. The Atascadero facility is a secure psychiatric hospital for men who are sent there by the courts or the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Alfred said he had not yet reviewed the attempted murder case, which occurred in Ione in 2011.

The chief did not release the victims’ names, but the slain woman was identified by her family as 63-year-old Lori Louise Owens.

A man in his 20s was hospitalized in stable condition with non-life-threatening wounds and a Pacific Gas & Electric worker was treated at a hospital and released, Alford said.