Authorities say an elderly Asian woman was stabbed to death in Riverside, California on Saturday while walking her dogs.
CNN reports that Riverside police received several calls about 64-year-old Ke Chieh Meng who suffered stab wounds on Golden Avenue near La Sierra after being attacked in the morning while walking her two small dogs.
She was taken to hospital and later died.
Shortly after the attack, authorities received reports from nearby neighbors of “a passing woman walking through their gardens looking suspicious,” CNN said.
The woman, 23-year-old Darlene Stephanie Montoya from Los Angeles, was later held safely, according to Riverside police.
“When our detectives interviewed the suspect, they encountered nothing to suggest she attacked the victim because of her race,” Riverside Police spokesman Ryan Railsback said, according to CNN.
Montoya is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center on suspicion of murder, a gun violation and being under the influence of an illegal substance. She was previously arrested by Riverside police on March 30 after she assaulted a woman with a skateboard near a comic book store, according to authorities.
This incident took place less than a month after a fatal shooting in Atlanta, Georgia, in which eight people were killed, six of whom were Asian women. The attack has sparked a nationwide debate about the recent upsurge in anti-Asian violence.