Guarded by police, woman slain

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Investigators were trying to determine Thursday how a man got into a woman's apartment and killed her while police stood watch outside, Los Angeles police said.

Police at the scene shot the attacker but not before he fatally stabbed the woman, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The woman, whose identity had not been disclosed late Thursday, had gone to a police station to file a domestic abuse complaint Wednesday night. Officers who specialize in domestic abuse cases talked with her and brought her back to her home, the newspaper said.

The officers saw the woman into her apartment and checked to be sure the man she accused in the complaint was not there, police said. The officers left the apartment but decided to wait outside in their car, keeping watch for a sign of the suspect.

Investigators think the man got into the apartment through a rear window, a police source told the newspaper.

Officers heard the woman scream and rushed into the apartment to find the attacker stabbing her. Police shot the attacker and both he and the woman were rushed to a hospital where they died.