Cleaver attack kills 6-year-old, updated
Calvin Sharp
Here's the updated post on the stomach-turning case of the cleaver-wielding killer. Rick ran out to get the details and I worked the phones. I can't even imagine how horrible the scene must have been for all involved. We heard a report, but couldn't confirm it, that the little boy stepped in between his alleged killer and his mother before he was butchered. When Sandra Ruiz stepped in to protect her child, she nearly suffered the same fate.
I see from the comments on the Ventura County Star's Web site that many people would have liked to see bystanders or the police kill Sharp, who's accused of these heinous crimes. I don't think any of us can honestly say what we'd really do in that situation, whether we'd rise up like the two neighbors who saved the day, or stand there fearfully. I hope I never have to find out. Whatever the case, the neighbors sound like the real heroes in this. Hopefully, we'll be able to update you on who they were and why they exhibited such courage under duress.
Elsewhere, the Times was also on the scene early and did a nice job with it.
Click below to read the whole thing.
NEWBURY PARK - As the cleaver-wielding killer chased Sandra Ruiz into her quiet apartment complex, she screamed for her 6-year-old son to run.
Sev'n Molina never made it.
Apparently enraged over the boy playing video games, the man bellowed "Die! Die!" as he hacked at the child's head. When Ruiz stepped between them to save her dying son, the man turned the blade on her, forcing her to the ground and falling on top of her prone body.
Ruiz struggled to reach for Sev'n as her attacker chopped down, nearly severing her arm and hand, witnesses said.
A 53-year-old woman who lives nearby rushed out and fought with the man, sustaining a cut to the face before knocking the butcher's tool from his hands. Another man pounced on him and knocked him to the ground. The pair struggled with him for several minutes until Ventura County Sheriff's Department deputies arrived and shot the alleged killer with Tasers.
On Monday, the boy was dead, Ruiz was critically injured in the hospital and deputies identified 27-year-old Calvin Leonard Sharp as the alleged killer. He was charged on suspicion of one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder and remained in jail with $1 million bail.
"This is just really bad," said Sgt. Patti Salas of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. "You use simple words because you just can't describe it. There are just no words for how bad it is."
Ruiz is in critical condition at Los Robles Medical Center, recovering from surgery all through the early morning Monday. The Good Samaritan who rushed to her aid was treated for the cut to her face and released.
The killing took place in a quiet, residential neighborhood in Thousand Oaks, which is routinely one of the nation's safest cities. Salas described the apartment complex as "just a quiet, nice place with nice people living there."
"It's totally unusual," said Xochitil Dominguez, 35, who's lived there for five years. "Not even gangs... you won't see that in this area."
On Monday, bloody stains and clumps of Ruiz's hair marred the courtyard where Sev'n once played. Neighbors brought stuffed animals, candles, rose bouquets and religious cards, silently mourning the little boy cut down only a few feet away.
Neighbor David Crawford, 21, said he'd seen Sharp around and that he seemed friendly enough. Around 9 p.m. Sunday night, he saw Sharp in a back alley, smoking something alone in his van.
"He was pretty cool but there were a couple of times he was way out of it," Crawford said. "I guess he was way out of it last night."
It's unclear whether Sharp lived at the complex with Ruiz. A MySpace.com profile that apparently belongs to him lists Sharp as a straight man in a relationship, 5-foot-8-inches tall, with a slim build who enjoys smoking and drinking. The profile pictures him with dreadlocks, smoking in front of palm trees. It calls him a proud parent with some college education who works as a taxi driver.
He worked for Yellow Cab of Thousand Oaks for more than a year before leaving on good terms in late May.
"He was just like anyone, he had his issues every now and then, but he seemed like a regular guy," said Leonard Locher, the company's operations manager. "We're all surprised by this. There was nothing here that would lead to something like this."
Ruiz worked not far away in the marketing department of biotech company Amgen. Spokeswoman Mary Klem said the entire company was in mourning over the attack.
"It's just senseless and tragic," Klem said. "Everyone at Amgen is just in shock and dismayed. Our heartfelt sympathies and prayers are with Sandra and her family."
Ruiz doted on Sev'n, who friends and neighbors said had a fondness for video games and martial arts. Michael Brandon, a photographer-editor for KCAL-9, knew her for the past couple years and described Sev'n as "her most precious possession."
He said she'd had bad luck with men and lived in fear.
"She didn't deserve to have this tragedy happen to her," said an angry, distraught Brandon, who rushed to the hospital when he realized the injured woman was his friend. "She won't want to live after this, I can tell you that right now. ... This alone will kill her, knowing her son is dead. ... He was all she had."
brent.hopkins@dailynews.com
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