WILLMAR, Minn. – It was no way to meet their neighbor.
Ben and Michelle Markwardt were starting their day Thursday in their quiet Willmar neighborhood, when 64-year-old Maria Garcia walked across the street.
She was covered in blood.
"Not like something we expected to see in the morning," said Michelle Markwardt.
Ben brought Garcia into the house. She told him she'd been stabbed by her grandson.
He called 911, while his wife grabbed paper towels and started applying pressure to Garcia's wounds. She counted at least three, below Garcia's chin, on her shoulder and on the back of her neck.
An ambulance pulled up and SWAT teams from the Willmar Police Department and the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Department descended on the Garcia's home.
Herb Baumann watched from his own home across the street. "The scene was chaotic, it was more squads than I've seen," he said.
Police blocked streets and told neighbors to stay indoors. For two hours, they tried phone calls and a public address system to try to convince the 19-year-old suspect to come out.
"They had an armored car right up the driveway and all of a sudden they went in, and no one came out," said Baumann. "There was no one in the house."
But police weren't done. Following information from a family member, they relocated a few blocks to the home of the suspect's mother.
"The sheriff's department SWAT team, police department SWAT team, did a joint entry on the home and discovered the individual inside," said Willmar Police Chief Jim Felt.
Back in Garcia's house, police found a fire that had been set, possibly to conceal evidence.
They also found the knife they believe was used in the attack. It came from Garcia's home.
"We're trying to figure out the motive for the incident. We understand there had been some incidents in the family regarding some possible thefts by this individual," said the police chief.
Felt said the suspect is Garcia's grandson, by marriage. He's expected to be in court Friday to be charged with assault and arson.
Police are seeking two other people who were in the house at the time of the stabbing, as witnesses and not suspects, according to Felt.
Garcia, meantime, is in serious condition at North Memorial Medical Center, where she was flown by helicopter.
Ben and Michelle Markwardt are just glad to have met their neighbor, when it really counted.
"We're glad someone was there who could help her, to be there for her," said Michelle.
