A man was charged with attempted murder after Montgomery County police say he stabbed his girlfriend in the abdomen in a Rockville apartment Wednesday.
Lance Popo, 37, of Rockville was with his girlfriend of 11 years and their children, ages 2 and 10, in a Rockville apartment around 5:45 p.m. She went out with the children to get food and came back about 20 minutes later, according to charging documents.
When the girlfriend returned to the apartment, she saw Popo texting another woman, according to the documents. While putting food into the oven, she started to tell Popo that the relationship was over, police said.
Popo, who was on the other side of the kitchen, then said something in a foreign language, grabbed a knife from the dish rack and stabbed his girlfriend in the abdomen, according to documents. Popo then dropped the knife and started choking the woman from behind, but she was able to resist by putting her hand between her neck and his arm, police said.
During the physical struggle, the children were in another room video chatting on a computer with their uncle in Texas, police said. One of the children then came out of the room and pointed the computer so that it faced the confrontation between Popo and his mother, and the uncle recorded it, according to documents.
At the end of the fight, Popo smashed his girlfriend’s phone with a meat tenderizer, according to documents. The children’s uncle then called 911.
The girlfriend grabbed her children and told Popo to leave. When he refused, she called the police using an Apple iPhone, and he left, police said. The girlfriend was taken to Suburban Hospital in Bethesda and treated for her stab wound and released.
Popo has been charged with one count each of attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault, according to court records. He is being held without bond. No attorney information for Popo was listed as of Friday afternoon.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@bethesdda-remix.newspackstaging.com