A brave mum was stabbed 20 times after leading an armed burglar away from her two daughters.
Marylou Villalobos Palos ran from her home in an effort to divert her attacker from her children.
The 42-year-old victim was filmed shouting: "He's trying to kill me, help."
She was repeatedly stabbed and slashed by the knifeman, who left her for dead.
The mum-of-two is reportedly in a stable condition after the horror attack.
Her daughter Evelyn, 15, discovered her mum in a pool of blood, after being stabbed in the face, neck and chest.
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Evelyn told US news network KTLA: "I went and I saw blood everywhere, and I thought my mom was dead."
Lt Chad Taylor, from the Lake Forest Sheriff's Department in California, said: "The mum, fearing for her safety and the safety of her teenage daughters, really quickly thought that, hey, she needed to get out of there, and hopefully he would chase her, which he ended up doing.
"So she actually fled out of the house and started running through the neighbourhood and the suspect gave chase."
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Her husband Enrique described her as a "hero".
After attacking Mrs Palos, the man stole a car and ploughed down a pedestrian - believed to be a woman in her 50s.
When he crashed this car he attempted to carjack another, only to be foiled because the driver was wearing a seatbelt, preventing him from dragging her out the vehicle.
A passing cyclist brought the horrifying rampage to an end by pepper spraying him.
James Carlos Melendrez, 25, was arrested in the aftermath.
