TAMPA, Fla. – A Florida woman who police say was stabbed 13 times by the father of her three young children remains in stable condition two days after the incident that ended with a police chase and shooting that killed the 33-year-old man.
“Our hopes are for a full and rapid recovery for the victim who has survived such unimaginable trauma,” Tampa police Chief Lee Bercaw said in statement released late Tuesday. He says social workers will assist the family.
The children witnessed the stabbing on Monday, Bercaw said.
Bercaw said Michael A. Bresnahan took the children to his brother’s house after stabbing their mother. He took a rifle from the brother’s house, which the chief said he later used to point at police officers while leading them on a 12-minute chase through Tampa neighborhoods.
The chase ended when Bresnahan crashed into another vehicle at an intersection.
Police helicopter footage from the scene shows one person running from the other vehicle, and officers rescuing another person from the car.
Bresnahan pointed a rifle at officers and 18 of them fired at him, Bercaw said.
Despite the barrage of police fire that peppered Bresnahan’s vehicle, he appears to have died from a self-inflicted wound, but an autopsy will determine that, Bercaw said.
None of the officers, nor the people in the car Bresnahan crashed into were injured.
The officers are on administrative leave, pending an investigation into the shooting by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The children are with another relative, Bercaw said.
Tampa police released video of the chase and police-involved shooting, which can be viewed by clicking here. Viewer discretion is advised.