Man arrested in connection with gruesome Santa Clara stabbing

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) -- A man was stabbed several times inside his Santa Clara home, early this morning after confronting an intruder.

Police descended on a quiet Cabrillo Avenue home at around 3 a.m. Thursday morning after a man broke in through the kitchen window.

Investigators spent hours combing through the house. The residents say blood splattered across multiple rooms. No one in the neighborhood saw this coming.

"I'm quite surprised," Gordon Waters, a neighbor, said. "This has been a very quiet neighborhood for a long, long time."

The victim's sister said she woke up to the sounds of a man in the downstairs bedroom next to her. She opened her door and the man held out a knife, then demanded her cellphone and money.

When she screamed for help, her 53-year-old brother ran downstairs. He was stabbed multiple times in the chest and neck.

"When officers arrived on scene, they found the victim, the homeowner, inside bleeding profusely and he was transported to the hospital," Santa Clara police Lt. Kurt Clarke said.

Another resident tried to tackle the suspect, but he got away.

Ignacio Maldonado, 24, was found in the nearby bushes and brought in for questioning and was later arrested.

"There's a multitude of charges he could face, burglary, assault, that's just a minimal of charges he could face right now," Clarke said.

Less than an hour earlier, a man matching Maldonado's description stabbed a woman sleeping in her car just a few blocks away near Calabazas Blvd. and El Camino Real.

She drove herself to the hospital.

Police are investigating to see if the two crimes are connected.

The homeowner suffered severe injuries, but he is expected to survive.