The woman shot by a Morrisville officer was Aishnakya Santhanakrishnan, 28, Police Chief Ira Jones said. Her mother, who was in good condition Sunday at WakeMed, is Rajalakshmi Cannipuphur, Jones said.

Officers had not yet interviewed Cannipuphur, 58, Sunday evening and didn't know why her daughter attacked her, Jones said.

Based on preliminary observations, officers think Santhanakrishnan stabbed her 15 to 18 times with a butcher knife, he said.

The incident happened about 7 p.m. Saturday in the Preston Creekside condominiums off Morrisville-Carpenter Road. Officers initially responded to a report of a fight.

The assault apparently started inside the condominium, then spilled outside. The first officer to arrive "saw her stabbing and swinging the knife at her mother," Jones said.

The officer repeatedly ordered Santhanakrishnan to stop, then fired his weapon when she didn't comply, Jones said.

Four shots were fired, town public information officer Stacie Galloway said. Jones would not name the officer involved.

Santhanakrishnan's husband and father were grocery shopping at the time of the attack. Jones said the younger woman's husband, Karpik Dev Ashok Jayararama, told police that Santhanakrishnan was under stress because of a new job but had no history of mental illness and wasn't taking any medications he knew of.

"He said that his wife was lying down, taking a nap," Jones said. "He doesn't know what happened."

Neighbor Kendall Phillips said he and other residents had questions about the level of force used by police. "She was a little girl, very small," he said of the dead woman, saying he was used to seeing her in the neighborhood, though he did not know her name. "Could she have been stunned?" Phillips asked, referring to Tasers, the nonlethal stun devices used by some police departments.

Jones said the officer was a newer employee who has not yet completed Taser training and did not have a Taser.

Quick backup

Jones said he wasn't sure whether using a Taser would have been appropriate anyway. "He couldn't stand there and let this woman stab a person to death," he said. Jones said backup arrived seconds after the shots were fired. Two officers had responded, he said, one driving around each side of the condo building.

The officer has been assigned to administrative duties pending a State Bureau of Investigation inquiry, routine in police shootings.

The condo where Santhanakrishnan lived with her husband is 2414 Kudrow Lane. A man who answered the door declined to speak with a reporter.

Wake County property tax records list the owners as Kartik Dev Ashok Jayaraman and Aishwarya Canniputhur. The deed does not list an Aishnakya Santhanakrishnan, but the name Aishwarya Canniputhur correlates with where Jones said the dead woman worked. Duke University staff listings show an Aishwarya Canniputhur as a research analyst at Duke's Human Vaccine Institute.

Jones said he got the name of the dead woman from her husband.

He said he was not aware of any previous calls to police from the address. Property records indicate the couple had lived there about two years.

Cannipuphur and her husband, Santhanakrishnan's father, had been visiting since May 27 from their home in India to celebrate Santhanakrishnan's new job, according to town officials.

Sounded like fireworks

Neighbor Melanie Clark and her husband, Tee Clark, were standing outside their condo on Kudrow Lane talking to a neighbor Saturday evening, when they saw a Morrisville police officer drive slowly down the lane, then hit his emergency lights and stomp on the gas. As that officer drove to the other side of the building, they heard gunfire.

"We thought maybe someone was shooting off fireworks," Melanie Clark said.

Tee Clark walked between the buildings to check on his car, he said, and saw the aftermath of the shooting. "The young ... [woman] was laid out, she was lying on the sidewalk," he said. "I could tell that it wasn't good."

Melanie Clark said she'd had nightmares even though she didn't see the scene in detail. "It's just very strange, because nothing happens in this neighborhood," she said.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.