3 dead, 1 injured in central Texas stabbings: Police

A man fatally stabbed three people, including a 13-year-old girl, in a small central Texas city early Friday before leading officers on a car chase and eventually being arrested, police said.

Sheriff’s deputies in San Saba, a community of about 3,000 people 100 miles (160 kilometers) north-west of Austin, received a call around 4:30 a.m. from a 18-year-old woman who said she was one of four people stabbed inside a home, said Sgt. Bryan Washko of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Officers arrived to find a 62-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman and the girl dead, Washko said. He could not provide the names of the victims or the 22-year-old suspect. He also said it’s unclear how they are connected and that no motive is known at this point. The Texas Rangers were investigating.

The girl was a seventh-grade student at a local school, which was open and offering counseling, said San Saba Independent School District Superintendent Wayne Kelly.

“It’s hit us pretty hard, “ Kelly said. ”When there are only 200 kids in the junior high they tend to know each other.” Kelly described the stabbings as a “domestic situation” but said he could not elaborate. He declined to name the student.

Moments after the stabbings, Washko said, the suspect fled in a car belonging to one of the victims. Police gave chase and followed him for 20 miles (32 kilometers) into the city of Goldthwaite, where he crashed into the wall of a senior citizen center and was arrested, he said. No one, including the suspect, was injured in the crash.

Washko said the 22-year-old was being held Friday in the Mills County jail but it’s not yet clear what charges he faces. The Mills County’s sheriff did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The woman who survived the stabbing was hospitalized in critical condition, Washko said.