A quiet Murrieta neighborhood was shattered by violence on Wednesday morning when a man broke into a couple’s home, fatally stabbing the husband and seriously injuring his wife with a screwdriver, police said.
According to the Murrieta Police Department, the attack occurred around 8:18 a.m. at a home on Old Spring Road. Officers responded after a frantic 911 call from a woman who said an intruder had entered their home and killed her husband.
Police quickly locked down the area, urging residents to stay inside as they searched nearby homes and a ravine behind the neighborhood. After an extensive manhunt, officers located 36-year-old Manuel Arturo Alvarez hiding in the brush.
When Alvarez refused to surrender, officers deployed Robbie, their 4-year-old Belgian Shepherd K-9, who brought him down. Alvarez was taken into custody and later booked at the Cois Byrd Detention Center on charges of homicide and attempted homicide, as per ABC affiliate KABC.
Police say Alvarez stabbed the 70-year-old homeowner to death with a knife and attacked his wife by stabbing her in the head with a screwdriver. The woman was rushed to the hospital, where she remains in stable condition and is expected to recover.
Neighbors described the scene as terrifying. “It was scary thinking back that we were just feet away from some guy on the run with a knife,” said Tyler Hamilton, who lives nearby. “In this area, nothing like this ever happens over here. So, it was pretty scary.”
Another neighbor, Heather King, recalled the chaos that followed. “I take my kids to school, it’s calm, and then I get back and there’s a helicopter circling around, there’s just cops lined up all the way, coming in and flying out,” she said.
Police say Alvarez is a transient from Modesto with no known criminal history. Investigators believe he entered the home through an unlocked door and may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the attack. They believe the assault was random.
“This is random. This is just a house right down the street, in a new neighborhood that we moved into, like it can happen to anybody,” said neighbor Jamel King. One resident summed up the tragedy simply: “I’m just sad about it. It’s like a woman woke up without her husband today, and with an injury, and that is our neighbor.”
Police said Alvarez was scheduled to appear in court but had not yet been medically cleared following his injuries from the K-9 encounter. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Munyer at (951) 461-6365 or [email protected].