UPDATE at 12:35 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015: The boys have been identified, below.

Three young boys were discovered dead, stabbed and covered in blood in South L.A. this morning, authorities said.

The find was made after police received a 7:15 a.m. report of an assault with a deadly weapon in the 300 block of East 32nd Street outside Delores Huerta Elementary School, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Aareon Jefferson said.

The victims were believed to be between the ages of 8 and 12, he said. They were found in the “back” of a parked vehicle, the officer told us.

A man at the wheel of the vehicle, which appeared in news coverage to be a Nissan SUV, also suffered stab wounds but survived and was reported to be in critical condition, Jefferson said.

“We believe him to be the father of the kids, but we do not know that for a fact,” LAPD Chief Charlie Beck told reporters today.

A suspect was in custody, the chief said. Was it the man with the stab wounds? He wouldn't say. A weapon was recovered at the scene, he said.

Cops who responded to the murder scene were shocked.


“These are incidents that scar not only a community but the first responders who have to handle them,” Beck said. “It is a sad day in Los Angeles, made only slightly better by the fact that we have a probable suspect in custody.”

City Councilman Curren Price, who represents the area, told reporters he lives near the scene.

“I take this personally,'' he said. “I live right around the corner, and I pass this way many times, been to the school many times. And to know that the kids that are back and forth here — full of life, full of vibrancy — and that these three are gone.”

UPDATE at 12:35 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015: The victims were identified by coroner's officials as Alexander Fuentes, 8, Juan Fuentes, 9, and Luis Fuentes, 10.

Police have confirmed that the suspect is their father, a man found with apparently self-inflicted stab wounds yesterday morning. Neighbors identified him as Luis Fuentes, according to reports.

-With reporting from City News Service.

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