3 Tied Up, 1 Attacked by Masked Man

A masked man broke into a Torrance apartment before dawn Wednesday, tied up three people with electrical cord and attacked one of them with kitchen knives before surrendering, police said.

Salatieulu Ifopo, 25, was being held without bail at the Torrance city jail on charges of kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and violation of parole.

Wearing a black fabric mask over the lower part of his face, Ifopo entered the apartment at 16124 Van Ness Ave. sometime after 4 a.m. while the occupants were asleep, police said. He bound the three residents with electrical cord from appliances inside the apartment and stabbed Myra Carbajal, 46, with kitchen knives, said police spokesman Sgt. Ronald Traber.

Ifopo fled to a neighboring apartment and surrendered at about 6 a.m., police said.

Carbajal was listed in stable condition Wednesday at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where she was treated for wounds to her arms, hands, neck, chest, abdomen and side, said Traber.

Carbajal’s daughter, Michele Carbajal, 15, contacted police after she escaped from the apartment by jumping from a second-story window. At the hospital, she was listed in stable condition also, although police were unclear whether she had been stabbed or was injured in the fall.

A third victim, Louis Mario Freeze, 21, was not hospitalized.

The motive for the attack was unknown, Traber said.