Pregnant Antioch mother, 2 kids stabbed - one child has special needs, neighbors say

Antioch - Neighbors expressed shock Monday after a pregnant Antioch mother and two of her children were stabbed by a suspect, who was later arrested after a chase.

"We heard the kids screaming. They were like screaming, ‘Stop, stop," said neighbor Aysha Perrone.

"I can't get it out of my head. It was actually very sad," Perrone said. "It's scary and it's sad. I hope the baby and her and her kids are okay."

It happened at an apartment complex on Wilbur Ave. near Orchard Lane in Antioch just before 4 p.m. Saturday.

Neighbors and Antioch police say a man stabbed a 35-year-old pregnant woman and two of her children, an 11-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy.

One neighbor told KTVU that a boy ran bleeding from his apartment and that the sidewalk was covered in blood. That neighbor says he saw a knife outside the victims' unit.

Residents of the complex say the injured woman who is expecting is deaf and that her son has special needs.

Police say all the mother and her two children were taken to hospitals. Authorities said two of the victims are in critical condition, but police would not specify which victims and did not provide an update on the unborn baby's condition.

Officers spotted the 37-year-old suspect leaving the apartment complex in a car and chased him to Solano County, where he crashed after police used "spike strips" to flatten his tires. 

Bartley Hall was taken into custody with the help of the California Highway Patrol, Solano County sheriff's deputies and Fairfield police. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and evading police. Bail was set at $1.6 million.

SEE MORE: 'Baby Brandon' kidnapping ringleader sentenced to 13 years

A motive for the violence was not yet disclosed, nor any relationship between the suspect and the victims.

"It was awful. It was really terrible," said Michael Davis, an acrylic painter who lives down the street. "What type of horrible person would do this to a mother and two kids? Two kids - two kids that did nothing wrong and just being who they are?" Davis said.