NEW BEDFORD - She asked him to leave about a month ago, but he kept a key.
On Friday night, he entered his former girlfriend's third-floor apartment on Tinkham Street and hid in her bedroom with a steak knife, according to police. When she returned from work, they argued, then he fatally stabbed her twice - once in the chest and once in the rib cage, police said.
When a couple who shared the apartment with her rushed to her aid, the attacker stabbed the woman eight times and bit the man.
Another man who also lived in the apartment struggled with the assailant, who then plunged the steak knife into his own chest, police said.
The couple's 4-year-old son was present but was unharmed, according to police.
Authorities did not release the names of those involved in the apparent murder-suicide, an attack police called a "vicious domestic disturbance" and left neighbors frightened yesterday. Police said the assailant was 43 and his former girlfriend was 36.
The woman who tried to stop the attack was flown to Rhode Island Hospital with serious injuries that were not life-threatening, police said.
Police received an emergency call about 5:15 p.m., but couldn't determine what was going on because of the screaming in the background.
"Upon arrival, officers encountered a very bloody crime scene on the sidewalk in the front of the house as well as on the stairs and in the hallways inside," New Bedford police Lieutenant Jeffrey Silva said in a statement.
Half-a-dozen discarded blue and purple latex gloves remained on the front steps of the three-decker, and yellow police tape still blocked off the backyard yesterday.
"I'm scared," said Mercia Andrade a 40-year resident of the neighborhood. "The whole of New Bedford is falling apart. There's a lot of crime scenes all over the place."
Neighbors said the woman and her former boyfriend had lived in the apartment for about a year and always said, "Hi."
"They were good people," said Jose Paulo, 52, who lives nearby. "They were hard-working people. This is a lot of sadness."
Friday's killing was the third homicide in New Bedford this year. It was the sixth domestic violence homicide in the state this year, according to Jane Doe Inc., a support service focusing on ending domestic violence.
New Bedford police and the Bristol district attorney office are investigating.
