The Knoxville Police Department has filed homicide charges against a woman whom they say stabbed her grandfather to death following an altercation early Friday morning.

Upon arriving at the home on the 400 block of Watauga Avenue, officers found Willie Smith lying on the floor just inside the front door, where he was pronounced dead. According to police, Smith’s 19-year-old granddaughter, Kassandra Scharff of Knoxville, was taken into custody at the scene. Preliminary reports indicate the two, who lived together, had argued in the dining room and Scharff went into the kitchen and retrieved what’s described as a “large butcher knife.” The police report says the woman returned to the dining room and stabbed Smith once near his neck. Scharff alleges she acted in self defense.

She has been charged with a single count of second-degree homicide and was initially placed under $100,000 bond at the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility.