A mother mourned the death of her husband and daughter after they were both stabbed to death in a Kohl’s parking lot in Palmdale, just north of Los Angeles.
Ken Evans and his 22-year-old daughter McKenna were killed in a seemingly random attack that happened just before noon Thursday, the LA County sheriff has said.
Elizabeth Evans, Ken’s widow and McKenna’s mother, said, “I’m devastated.”
“(McKenna) wasn’t just my daughter, she was my best friend,” she added.
She described how McKenna was an ambitious young woman and that she was studying to be a beautician.
“She was an absolute beacon,” she said. ‘She didn’t know a stranger. Everyone became her best friend.’
“He loved to play pool, he loved mountain biking, he loved spending time with his daughter,” Elizabeth said of her husband Ken.
The father and daughter were working together on a car on the property that morning when a man approached them and asked for help with his own vehicle, police said.
After an ‘argue’ ensued, the man stabbed both the father and daughter several times before being apprehended by sheriff’s officers who responded to the call.
McKenna’s mother and Ken’s wife, Elizabeth Evans, said she saw the suspect “grinning” as he was led away in handcuffs.
McKenna was pronounced dead at the scene and Ken was taken to hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Elizabeth Evans
Ken Evans (left) and his 22-year-old daughter McKenna (right) were killed in a seemingly random attack just before noon on Thursday.
McKenna and Ken were both parked side by side in their own cars. The suspect who eventually stabbed them both was parked nearby and appeared to be living from his car, detectives said
McKenna’s mother and Ken’s wife Elizabeth Evans said the two were working on a car in Kohl’s parking lot when someone she thought was on drugs attacked them both.
Elizabeth also described the moment she saw the man suspected of murdering her daughter and the suspect’s husband grinning as he was handcuffed by officers.
“When he was handcuffed, he grinned,” she said. “He had a grin on his face. How dares he? I hope he never gets out of jail.”
Elizabeth Evans spoke of the attack after it happened. She said Ken was a doting father and described McKenna as her “best friend.”
The two were working on one of their cars when they were approached by the man seeking help.
McKenna and Ken were each parked side by side in their own cars. The suspect who eventually stabbed them both was parked nearby and appeared to be living from his car, detectives said.
The man who attacked her daughter and husband was on drugs and it was totally random, Elizabeth told KTLA.
A woman who witnessed the brutal stabbing but wished to remain anonymous described to the news channel how the attacker apparently targeted the woman.
She related how she saw McKenna screaming and running across the parking lot. She said he then stabbed her “in the back, on the side of her ribs and in her stomach.”
“He ran away from it, came back and started stabbing her again.”
‘Then ran away again. Came back. Kicked her, stabbed her twice in the stomach and walked away,” she added.
She also told how Ken was stabbed by the same man.
“He was stabbed a few times, then he tried to get back into his vehicle, where he got stuck,” she said.
A witness who asked to remain anonymous told KTLA news that Ken tried to escape the attack by getting into a car but was still stabbed
McKenna’s mother described her as ambitious, saying her 22-year-old daughter was in training to become a beautician
McKenna Evans during her graduation from Highland High School
McKenna’s eight-month-old friend Jesse Mercado held Elizabeth in his arms as he tried to hold back his tears.
“The first time I met her was at work,” Jesse said. “The moment she presented herself was the day I fell in love with her.”
He told ABC7, ‘All I want from this is one more time. Again. Can’t I hold her one more time? And say goodbye and that’s it. Tell her I love her. I will always love her.’
McKenna with her mother Elizabeth Evans, who said she was ‘completely destroyed’
The attack comes in the wake of growing crime problems in Los Angeles.
Statistics from the LAPD indicated a total of 24,450 violent crimes had been committed as of Oct. 10, an increase of 3.9 percent from the same period last year’s total of 23,526.
Theft has increased by 14.9 percent since last year and aggravated assault by 0.9 percent.
Changes in crime since 2021 as reported by the LAPD. Statistics are from October 1st