NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) -
A 14-year-old boy, his mother and grandmother were killed in a gruesome stabbing in Bellevue early Sunday morning.
The victims were identified as grandmother Marylea Jordan, 71, her daughter Michelle Pinkowski, and Pinkowski's son, Jonathan Culpepper, 14.
Metro police identified the suspect, Craig Garber, 41, as a neighbor who was hospitalized in critical condition with self-inflicted stab wounds. Garber's family told investigators that he suffers from mental issues.
Police said Garber lived just a few doors down the street and was an acquaintance of the family.
According to Metro police spokesman Don Aaron, the attack happened at about 3 a.m. at a home on Beech Bend Drive.
Aaron said Pinkowski's 9-year-old daughter ran out of the house when she saw a man attacking one of her relatives. The girl ran to get help from her neighbors, who called police.
Officers responded to the home and found Garber at the front door covered in blood. Once inside, police found the three victims all stabbed to death.
Garber was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in critical condition with self-inflicted stab wounds. On Monday, Garber was still in critical but stable condition.
A neighbor currently has custody of the girl who survived the attack.
Neighbors, police recall tragic events
Neighbor Jason Zimmerman said he was laying in his bed watching television just before 3 a.m. Sunday when his 9-year-old neighbor and daughter's friend started banging on his door.
"She was saying someone was stabbing her grandmother."
Zimmerman called 911, grabbed his gun and ran to Jordan's house just a few yards away on Beech Bend Drive.
"I saw the guy going through the house very nonchalantly," Zimmerman recounted.
"The scene is very bloody. It's not something you see in Nashville," Don Aaron with the Metro Police Department said.
"From the evidence it does appear Michelle was stabbed first. Garber went upstairs confronted the 14-year-old then the grandmother," said Aaron.
Police spent the better part of the day combing through the home, collecting evidence and taking photos, while news of the murders spread through this normally quiet community.
Mai Cagle who lives just up the road was shocked. "This is just unheard of," she said.
"It just breaks my heart that this happened to them," said neighbor Jacki Allison.
Police have not yet filed charges against Garber. They are still in discussions with the district attorney's office about what charges to file.
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