Fatal stabbing suspect flees Peninsula after police search
SAN CARLOS, Calif. (BCN/KTVU) - Police are asking for help in their search for a domestic violence suspect accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death Saturday in San Mateo. Sheriff’s officials say he should be considered armed and dangerous.
According to San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and the San Mateo Police Department (SMPD), the 22-year-old suspect, Anthony Kirincic, is believed to have stabbed and killed his girlfriend, a 34-year-old woman, in her home at the 1500 block of S.B. Street. SMPD responded to the scene of the stabbing around noon where they found the woman inside with critical injuries.
Officers and paramedics performed lifesaving efforts, but the victim, with a stab-wound to the neck, was said to have died at the scene. The suspect had fled the scene by the time police had arrived. Police believe he is no longer in the immediate area.
San Mateo County Sheriff's Office deputies responded at about 12:30 p.m. to the Sutter Health San Carlos Urgent Care Center at 301 Industrial Road after receiving a tip that the suspect’s silver Chrysler was found unoccupied in a parking structure near Holly Street and Industrial about two miles from the stabbing.
Detective Salvador Zuno said the suspect fled from the City of San Mateo. Police thought he may be hiding in the clinic, Zuno said. Law enforcement officers and a SWAT team set up a perimeter, evacuated the clinic, and conducted a room-to-room search for the suspect.
Capt. Dave Norris with San Mateo police said it wasn't clear if the two lived together, but that the initial 911 call came from the victim who was stabbed multiple times.
Police said it was not the first time they were called to the victim's home, nor was it the first attack on the woman. They didn't indicate whether or not the victim had a court order to keep Kirincic away. Records show the suspect has been arrested at least a half dozen times for drug offenses, assault, and attempted murder on a co-habitant.
Kirincic was said to have had several addresses on the Peninsula. Police are searching the addresses the suspect is associated with.
The California Highway Patrol and Belmont police were also involved in the initial search, according to Zuno. At one point, heavily-armed officers searched BART trains for the suspect. In addition, airport police were alerted in case the suspect was headed for SFO International Airport.
"Domestic violence homicide is the most extreme form of domestic violence, of course. The victim will make an attempt to leave whoever they are, multiple times and it often takes three, four, five, six times to actually get out of a relationship that is abusive, because the barriers are so numerous," said Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse Director Melissa Lukin.
Police called the killing another "tragic example" of the level at which domestic violence can escalate.
The victim has not been identified. Anti-domestic violence advocates said between three and five women die every day in the U.S. because of domestic violence.