April 12, 2007
Palm Springs, California, police arrested Mandie Kearns, 28, of Desert Hot Springs, for allegedly stabbing two African-Americans on April 5, 2007.
The incident occurred behind a coffee shop in Palm Springs, after a street fight had broken out involving a group of 15 to 30 people.
The two victims found by police, a man and a woman, both 20 years old, were severely beaten and stabbed; the woman had two collapsed lungs.
Police arrested Kearns at the scene, where they found a bloody knife in her pocket. Kearns allegedly told the police that she is a member of a local white supremacist gang called Suicidal Tendencies.
Kearns is being held on $600,000 bail at the Palm Springs Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and a hate crime charge.
Police are searching for additional suspects.
Updated: December 04, 2007
Mandie Kearns, 28, of Desert Hot Springs, California, pleaded guilty before a Superior Court judge on November 16, 2007, to being an accessory after the fact, with a hate crime enhancement, in connection with a stabbing attack on two 20-year-old African-Americans near a coffee shop in Palm Springs in April.
According to law enforcement, Kearns claimed to be a white supremacist and member of a gang called Suicidal Tendencies (no relation to the band by the same name) at the time of her arrest. Kearns was arrested after being found with a bloody knife at the crime scene.