Mother stabbed to death in South Tacoma apartment has been identified

A 61-year-old South Tacoma woman fatally stabbed when she returned home Tuesday has been identified as Sarann Suong.

Police say Suong was attacked by her son, Larry Suong, when she walked in the front door of the home they shared at the Bryn-Mar Village apartments in the 1800 block of South 82nd Street.

Sarann Suong was still holding her keys and wearing her backpack when officers found her lying on the floor, suffering from multiple stab wounds to the face, head and neck.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Larry Suong, 30, was ordered jailed in lieu of $1 million Wednesday after pleading not guilty to first-degree murder at his arraignment.

Neighbors said Sarann Suong was a nice lady but her son often caused trouble around the complex.

It was not uncommon for people to hear Sarann Suong yelling at her son, according to court documents.

On Tuesday, a neighbor called 911 after hearing a “bloodcurdling scream” coming from the Suongs’ apartment.

She told dispatchers she was concerned Sarann Suong was hurt inside.

“... the defendant told police that he decided he was not going to allow his mother to yell at him that day, so he got a knife and sat on the couch waiting for her to come home,” prosecutors wrote in charging papers. “When she came home, she started to yell at him, so he attacked her with the knife.”

Detectives found two knives at the scene.

One was lying near Sarann Suong on the floor, the other had been cleaned and placed in the kitchen sink.

Lary Suong has five prior felony convictions, including one in 2010 for third-degree assault after choking his mother and punching his boyfriend when he tried to intervene.

Sarann Suong then got a restraining order against her son, describing several incidents where he was violent toward family members and scared her.