An Anaheim man who allegedly chased his estranged wife down at their nine-year-old son’s flag football game last week in Garden Grove with two large butcher knives been charged with attempted murder, officials announced Tuesday.

The alleged attacked happened around 7 p.m. Friday at Chapman Sports Complex, located at 11701 Knott Street. According to the Garden Grove Police Department, the 40-year-old mother was watching her son practice when he alerted her that his father was “charging across the field” behind her holding two large butcher knives.

The woman stood up and ran onto the playing field, screaming for help as he chased behind, police said.

Spectators, including an off-duty Garden Grove police officer and the victim’s nine-year-old son, intervened in the attack and kept the man from harming his wife. He was restrained until police arrived.

The woman’s husband, 43-year-old Russell Matthew Husges, was arrested at the scene. He has since been charged with one felony count of attempted murder, one count of felony assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, one misdemeanor count of disobeying a domestic relations court order, and one misdemeanor count of child abuse and endangerment, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday. 

“No one should be subjected to violence for making the decision to leave a relationship and no child should have to intervene to stop one parent from attacking another,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a news release. “The act itself is horrific, but to attempt to carry out this kind of violence in front of innocent children and their parents is the stuff of nightmares.” 

Husges faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. He is currently being held at the Orange County Jail. 

It’s unclear what exactly prompted the attack, but the DA’s office said the victim had been granted a family court order against her estranged husband a few weeks prior.