Kelowna woman stabbed and attacked by woman in her own home

A woman from Kelowna, BC, shares her story of being attacked by a stranger in her home.

Tanya Gonzales remains in the hospital following the attack on Saturday afternoon.

She was stabbed multiple times in the incident, which police described as a burglary.

“Still in pain and shock, but better than yesterday,” Gonzales told Global News on Monday.

“As far as I remember, we just took the desks outside, into the basement where our room was.”

Gonzales left a door open at his Kelgen Crescent home, at which point the suspect attacked Gonzales before being confronted by another family member, police said.

A few hours later, 24-year-old Morgan Marie Smith was arrested and later charged with aggravated assault.

She remains in custody and is due to appear in court on Tuesday.

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Marie Escabarte, who lives with Gonzales, said the experience shook the entire family.

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“The first night we didn't sleep until 5 a.m.,” she said. “We all waited in the dining room for the morning.”

Escabarte said she had no idea why the attack occurred.

She said her children saw Gonzales after the attack, bleeding from her wounds.

“She was stabbed five times,” Escabarte said.

She added that they are considering moving after the incident because they feel so unsafe.

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Bonnie Mackenzie lives in the area.

“It's a little scary,” she said. “Yeah. I think it's a safe area.”

Kaytlyn Greeno was at home on Saturday afternoon and noticed several police operations on her street.

“There were probably about, I'd say, eight to 10 squad cars,” she said. “Half of them were undercover, half were regular squad cars. And then the ambulance came probably five minutes later. But they had a police officer and a sniffer dog out there looking for whatever they were looking for.”

“It was kind of crazy.”

The RCMP told Global News it would not comment until the suspect appears in court.

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