Pregnant first-grade teacher stabbed 10 times during carjacking at her California home

LOS ANGELES – A pregnant carjacking victim was undergoing surgery Thursday to treat multiple stab wounds she suffered during a gang-related attack outside her Southern California home. The woman, who was identified by her husband, Greg Maga, as his 33-year-old wife Tanya, was parked in front of their house in the Sunland neighborhood of Los Angeles, about 20 miles north of downtown, when the incident occurred about 6 p.m. Wednesday. A GoFundMe page started for the victim identified her as Tanya Nguyen, a first-grade teacher. Three people came “absolutely out of nowhere” and asked for his wife’s phone before attacking her, Maga said. The entire exchange was captured on his home’s surveillance video, which Maga did not want to release without the OK from police. Maga’s wife, who is 12 weeks pregnant with the couple’s first child, suffered 10 puncture wounds in the attack, including one that runs all the way through her lungs, he said. “She’s alive. She’s badly injured … She’s going through surgery as we speak,” Maga said Thursday morning. Tanya was transported to the hospital in critical condition but was listed as stable, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Greg Kraft said. The injuries were not considered to be life threatening, Kraft said. Another law enforcement officer described the attack as “animalistic.” “I get choked up even talking now about it,” Lt. Frank Kryshak said during a news conference Thursday. An ultrasound will be done when the surgery is over but the condition of the unborn child was still unknown, Maga said in the morning. Maga told reporters he first heard about the attack from a neighbor as he was driving home from work. “I was just panicked and completely helpless because I was stuck in traffic,” he said. The community also stepped up and helped his injured wife until emergency crews arrived. “It’s a tight community and great neighborhood. People know each other,” he said. Tanya’s stolen car was later found abandoned after it had crashed into several vehicles in another neighborhood. Two people were eventually taken into custody in connection with the attack and carjacking, LAPD confirmed. No details about the arrests were immediately available, but Kryshak said more people, including possibly a woman, are outstanding. Authorities believe the incident is gang-related. The GoFundMe for the victim stated the “tragic news has us all crestfallen.” “Ms. Nguyen is a ray of sunshine who nurtures our children & gives of herself in the most loving, pure way” the page reads.