Man Charged With Murder in Garden Grove Family Attack

A 73-year-old man accused of killing his 10-year-old stepdaughter and shooting and stabbing his wife at their home in Garden Grove has been charged with murder and attempted murder Thursday.

His 36-year-old wife was hospitalized in critical but stable condition Thursday and being treated for gunshot and stab wounds.

The suspect, Tanh Thien Tran, was suspected of fatally stabbing his 10-year-old stepdaughter in their Garden Grove home.

He was also hospitalized with self-inflicted stab wounds, according to Garden Grove police Lt. Carl Whitney.

Officers responded about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday to a domestic violence call in the 8900 block of Blossom Avenue and discovered the woman in the front yard with stab wounds and a single gunshot wound, Whitney said.

The woman told officers the family lived in a duplex and her husband was in the rear of the home, he said.

"She also told us three children were still in the house," Whitney said.

Two boys, aged 3 and 6, were found unharmed in the residence.

Officers found Tran, armed with a knife, on the "threshold of the patio door," he said.

"So we start to negotiate with this guy to surrender and come out and he's refusing to come out and he's got some superficial self-inflicted wounds," the lieutenant said.

Meanwhile, another team of officers made their way into another part of the house and got the boys to safety, Whitney said.

"The officers made their way through the house to the same room with the suspect and they can see him negotiating with the (other team of) officers," Whitney said. "And they see the 11-year-old lying on the floor with stab wounds inside the same room as the suspect. The officers covertly sneaked across the room, grabbed the little girl, picked her up and exited with her while the suspect was distracted by the officers negotiating with him."

Officers began attempts to resuscitate the girl, who was rushed with her mother to UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange. She was pronounced dead 90 minutes later, Whitney said.

Officers subdued Tran with rubber bullets and bean bag rounds, he said.

Whitney said the couple had been having unspecified domestic disputes.