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A Texas mother of five desperately fought for her life after she was allegedly ambushed and repeatedly stabbed by two sisters and a friend in broad daylight, according to a close friend who described the horrifying attack.
Caroline "Caro" Peña, 32, was allegedly attacked by sisters Kitty Mia Diaz, 21, and Amaya "Cookie" Diaz, 19, along with their 21-year-old friend Kyandra Renee Faz, at around 2PM on Thursday in Del Rio, Texas. The three women have been charged with murder and are being held on a combined $15 million bail.
As Peña was rushed to a local hospital, a chilling photo allegedly taken during the attack appeared on a local Facebook page before later being deleted. The image became the first sign to Peña's longtime friend, Zelina Ochoa, that something terrible had happened.
The now deleted image allegedly showed Peña standing as blood soaked through the back of her pink shirt while the three accused women surrounded her.
"It’s a photo of her standing up and you see the back side of her, and her shirt in the back is completely filled with blood," Ochoa told the New York Post.
Meanwhile, "the three girls are in front of her, they’re surrounding her," Ochoa said.
The stay-at-home mother, whose children range in age from 17 to 3 and include two with special needs, fought back despite having no weapon.
"She had just collapsed and she stood right back up," Ochoa said. "She was a fighter."
"It’s a very powerful picture because it shows, you know, these three girls showed up with their weapons and Caro showed up with nothing but her hands," she added.
"She didn’t show up there thinking that today is my last day."
According to Ochoa, comments from people who said they witnessed the stabbing suggested there was little warning before violence broke out.
"Where this incident occurred, it’s a very busy intersection. It’s on the main street of our town, so there were a lot of passersby," she explained.
Additionally, "This wasn’t something that was done in an alley at 12AM this was done in broad daylight on the busiest intersection at the corner of Sonic."
Based on those witness accounts, "there was really no verbal altercation" before the attack and "it went from 0 to 100 very quickly," Ochoa recalled.
"It confused a lot of people because it happened so quick and everybody was like, ‘Wait, hold on, what did we just witness?’" she added.
Police have not released a motive for the killing.
Ochoa said Peña, whom she met when they were both teen moms, was devoted to her children and avoided conflict.
"Caro was not the type to go to the clubs or be involved in any type of altercation or drama or anything like that, that’s just not who she was," Ochoa said.
"She was that one friend that tried to bring peace among everyone, so it’s just so confusing how this even happened."
"I don’t know if it was just an unlucky day and she happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t know. I really don’t know," she lamented.
Ochoa also questioned why one of the accused women, who she said is also a mother, would allegedly take another children's parent away.
"It’s very unclear as to why a mother would do this to another mother and why she herself wouldn’t consider her own son," she said.
"She’s still gonna see her son grow up through the glass and Caro’s kids are only gonna have a tombstone."
A GoFundMe created to support Peña's children, two of whom are autistic according to the fundraiser, has currently raised more than $5,000.
Remembering her friend, Ochoa said: "She was one of those people that were born to be a mom…she made it look so easy."
"Everyone says your kids love you, but her kids really love her. She wasn’t just their mom, she was their friend…her life was her children."
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New court documents have identified the youngest of three women charged over the fatal stabbing of a Texas mother of five as the person police say carried out the deadly attack.
According to the City of Del Rio Police Department, Amaya "Cookie" Diaz, 19, her sister Kitty Mia Diaz, 21, and their friend Kyandra Renee Faz, 21, have all been charged with first-degree murder following the death of 32-year-old Caroline "Caro" Peña.
Authorities say the attack happened in broad daylight on June 25 in Del Rio, Texas, with Peña later dying from her injuries after being transferred to a trauma hospital in San Antonio.
Del Rio sits along the United States and Mexico border, roughly 150 miles west of San Antonio, where Peña died after several hours of emergency treatment.
Following her death later that evening, the charges against all three suspects were upgraded to murder. Each woman was given a $5 million bond and requested a court-appointed attorney during a court appearance.
According to court documents obtained by The New York Post, police believe Cookie Diaz was the person who repeatedly stabbed Peña during the confrontation.
The complaint states that Faz told investigators Peña had "arrived at her residence looking to start a fight."
As detectives investigated the case, they reviewed surveillance footage, examined physical evidence and interviewed witnesses. Police say the video showed Peña arriving in her black Dodge pickup truck at Faz's residence before Cookie and Kitty Diaz arrived in a black Chrysler 300.
According to investigators, the footage shows Cookie getting out of the passenger side of the vehicle while holding what officers believed was a knife in her right hand before confronting Peña.
Police allege Cookie then struck Peña in the back, with blood soon becoming visible on the mother's shirt. Court documents state that Kitty Diaz and Faz then joined the assault by physically attacking Peña before the three women fled the area.
Officers arrested Cookie and Kitty Diaz without incident at about 4PM on Thursday. Video recorded by a bystander showed the sisters being taken into custody by police, with footage circulating widely online following the arrests.
Faz was arrested a short time later.
All three women were transported to the GEO Correctional Facility in Del Rio, where they remain in custody.
Peña was initially taken to Val Verde Regional Medical Center before being transferred to a specialized trauma facility in San Antonio because of the severity of her injuries.
Investigators were notified at about 9PM that Peña had died.
Authorities have not released a motive for the deadly attack, and investigators have not said what led up to the confrontation.
Police say the investigation remains active and ongoing as detectives continue gathering evidence and working to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident. Authorities have also said additional charges could be filed as the investigation progresses.
In newly released footage, two young sisters are seen pulling funny faces and laughing with each other as cops drag them away from their home in handcuffs.
Amaya Cookie Diaz, 19, and Kitty Mia Diaz, 21, have been accused of fatally stabbing mom-of-five Caroline “Caro” Peña, 32, repeatedly in broad daylight.
The video of the young women being arrested showed Kitty smiling at the ground while being led into a police car by officers while wearing black shorts and a crop top with a graphic depicting hands over her breasts.
Moments later, her younger sister emerged in a similar outfit and performed to the camera. She giggled and joked with the person behind the camera, sarcastically yelling: “Stop recording."
The Del Rio Police Department said officers also arrested a third woman, identified as 21-year-old Kyandra Renee Faz, in relation to the broad-daylight killing.
The trio was each charged with murder and transported to a local jail, according to police. No motive for the attack has been made public yet.
A journalist in Del Rio, a small town near the Mexican border where the murder took place, told the New York Post that he recorded the video after receiving a tip-off about the heavy police presence in the area, without knowing what the young women were being arrested for.
Speaking about the five police cars outside the property where the sisters lived, Michael Elizondo said: “I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew it must be serious.
"I saw the first girl going into the car, and I thought, ‘Whatever.’ … But the second one caught my eye.
"That girl was in a happy mood. … She was all smiling, goofing off like nothing happened."
Recounting the shocking reaction to being arrested for murder, Elizondo said: “All of a sudden I see the window go down, and the girl was sticking out her face, sticking out her tongue and goofing off.”
Neighbours in the area told the independent journalist that they witnessed the sisters “driving recklessly” down the road earlier in the day.
One person also alleged that they saw the victim covered in blood while facing her three attackers outside a Sonic drive-through before she died at a hospital in San Antonio at around 9PM.
The sisters and Faz were each charged with murder and transported to a local jail, according to the Del Rio Police Department.
The mother of a 12-year-old Oklahoma girl who confessed to stabbing her nine-year-old brother to death is standing by her daughter.
On January 5, mother April Lyda was asleep when her 12-year-old daughter woke her up and claimed that she had stabbed her nine-year-old brother, Zander, in their Tulsa home, as reported by KRMG.
The child was stabbed in the chest and rushed to the hospital. He was later taken into surgery but sadly succumbed to his injuries shortly after 2:30AM.
The mother shared a statement about her family's harrowing tragedy on GoFundMe - which was started by her friends. She wrote that her children were raised as "God-fearing" and "never had behavioral issues" - at least, not until her daughter was put back on an undisclosed medication.
Lyda then went into detail on how her daughter is coping after being placed in a juvenile facility, saying that she has been "very well behaved the entire six months she has been gone".
The mom then expressed that she is "very supportive" of her child, despite the challenging circumstances, adding: "Obviously there is a lot of healing that we both need before we can ever live together again and she needs mental and emotional help after this, she could have permanent damage we don’t know yet, but she has not had any issues."
The name of the girl who admittedly stabbed her brother to death has not been disclosed. Her mom seems optimistic about her progress in the treatment facility.
"[S]he has a very amazing team of experts that spend almost every day with her for hours sometimes," the update says. "They have been around her this entire six months they know her pretty well, they also feel like she is telling the truth, and I believe the experts when it comes to this. She is going to treatment, for how long we do not know yet."
Lyda clarified that the medication her child took was not psychiatric, but did not want to elaborate, "because I’m not sure what all I’m allowed to share just yet".
She then wrote "She has never even yelled at me, she was happy and energetic loves school, she is not mentally ill and has not been diagnosed with anything," adding later on: "She was as normal as [your] child as any 12-year-old child who was not allowed to cuss or watch scary evil movies."
"She was just starting to rebel but she was also just going through normal teenage things, so no there were no signs that would have warned any of us that she was a threat," the mom added.
Law and Crime released bodycam footage of the 12-year-old girl being at a complete loss after the frightening incident. At one point in the video, she shouts through tears: "I’m so sorry."
"I’m so sorry," the girl says again, raising her face to the officer who has her detained. "I don’t know what the f*** happened. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what happened."
In the footage, the unnamed girl also confessed that she used a knife to stab her brother, and she eventually shows officers where she tossed the weapon after the attack.
A police officer eventually removes her hoodie and sees the series of cuts on her arms. He states that most of them look old but then spotted a newer but minor wound.
"I want to clarify something, my daughter was not a cutter," Lyda shared in her statement on GoFundMe - referring the video released by the police.
"She had old cuts from two months prior from when she was first put back on her meds and everyone agreed to take her off immediately and so I did and unfortunately it was too late the damage was done. The new cuts were from that night she attacked my precious son," the mom added.
The mom concludes the post by saying: "I feel very guilty I couldn’t protect my son, I have promised my children a million times that I would never let anything like this happen to them."
"I felt like I failed him and her both," she adds. "I know it’s not my fault and people can be so cruel and evil especially right now. Anyway with all that said, don’t believe everything you see or hear on the internet or from strangers that have never met me or my family."
The family of a girl who survived Tuesday's Texas school shooting by covering herself in blood is crowdfunding for her therapy and medical treatment.
The nation continues to mourn the tragic events that occurred in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.
On Tuesday morning, an 18-year-old gunman - named by authorities as Salvador Ramos - entered Robb Elementary School carrying a handgun, an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, and high-capacity magazines. After opening fire on a classroom, he ultimately killed 19 children between the ages of nine and 11 and two teachers.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that one of the students inside the classroom survived after covering herself with blood.
In an interview with NBC Los Angeles, the aunt and godmother of 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo recalled how the youngster made it through the horrific ordeal alive.
"Miah got some blood and put it on herself so she could pretend she was dead," godmother Blanca Rivera said. "It's too much for me to play that scene over and over again, but that's what my sister-in-law said is that she saw her friend full of blood and she got blood and put it on herself."
Rivera also explained that the child is struggling to cope with the trauma of what happened.
"Around midnight my sister-in-law called me and she was just crying, like 'I think it just hit Miah. I think everything came to reality now,'" Rivera said.
Blanca Rivera explained how her 11-year-old niece made it through the attack alive, and how she is struggling to cope with the trauma of what she witnessed.
"Around midnight my sister-in-law called me and she was just crying, like 'I think it just hit Miah. I think everything came to reality now,'" she said.
Miah's teacher, Irma Garcia, and many of her classmates were killed in the deadly attack.
Now, Miah's mom has started a GoFundMe in order to help her daughter through the trauma of what she experienced.
"Hello my name is Abigale [Veloz] my daughter is [Miah Cerrillo] she is a survivora from the Uvalde school shooting," the mom writes on the crowdfunding page. "Her class room was one of the main rooms that got targeted. [With] that [being] said we are asking if people could please donate to her Gofundme she will need a lot of help with all the trauma that she is going through.
"My daughter is amazing person and is a very good sister to her siblings," Cerrillo writes, before adding: "We will need help with her medical expenses that were caused by the bullet fragment on her back."
As of this writing, more than $340,000 has been raised from nearly 9,000 donations.
Our thoughts continue to go out to everybody affected by this horrendous tragedy...
The mother of the Uvalde school shooter was confronted in the street by family members of one of his 21 deceased victims.
Adriana Martinez had been walking across the street in the small Texas town when relatives of one of the 19 children her son killed at Robb Elementary School on May 24 approached her, Telemundo reported.
"You have no right to judge my son!" Martinez shouted over at relatives of the late 10-year-old fourth-grader Amerie Jo Garza. "May God forgive y'all."
The verbal altercation kicked off when a black SUV with some of Garza's relatives inside stopped in the middle of the street to confront Martinez who was seen crossing the road, footage by Telemundo shows.
Some of those inside the vehicle rolled their windows down as others exited the car to shout at Martinez - the mother of 18-year-old Salvador Ramos who shot dead 19 children and two teachers at a local elementary school.
"What reason did he have? Because he was pissed off at you? Because you destroyed him?" one relative shouted.
"What reason did he have to kill 21 [people]," another family member screamed.
Martinez responded: "I didn't know."
She went on to add: "I know my son was a coward. You don't think I don't know that? I know. You don't think I'm carrying all that with me? You don't think I don't know. I know. And I'm sorry."
Garza's family had just left a meeting with other loved ones of the 19 young victims when the confrontation took place, Telemundo reported. It was not noted by the outlet whether Martinez was at the same meeting.
Just days after the May 24 rampage, Martinez told CNN her son "had his reasons for doing what he did and please don't judge him."
Martinez asked for forgiveness for herself and her teen son, who was ultimately killed by officers who attended the scene.
"I only want the innocent children who died to forgive me. Forgive me, forgive my son. I know he had his reasons," she said.
The massacre in the town of Uvalde was the deadliest shooting at a school in the US since 20 children and six adults were shot dead at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.
The young gunman entered Robb Elementary School at around 11:32 AM. He was armed with a handgun and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle before "horrifically, incomprehensibly" opening fire, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said.
“My heart is broken today,” said Hal Harrell, the school district superintendent, per The Guardian. “We’re a small community, and we’re going to need your prayers to get through this.”
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