"I think my nephew came across pure evil," she said in a telephone interview from Florida. "It is hard to believe that there is that much anger and hate in someone."
The young man's father said earlier this week that he had warned his son about getting involved with a married woman, but that he didn't listen. The father, who visited his son in the hospital, said his son would require surgery for a "complete facial reconstruction."
Both the young man and McClain's wife remained hospitalized as of Wednesday afternoon.
The woman's sister, who drove from Arizona to take care of the couple's children, said they had been married for years and she knew of no previous trouble between them.
"I have always seen him as a good person. So this is very hard to believe. He adores his children. They were his life," said the woman, who declined to provide her name.
McClain, who worked as a guard at the county jail in downtown Los Angeles, resigned from the Sheriff's Department Wednesday afternoon, said Steve Whitmore, a sheriff's spokesman. McClain had not had any disciplinary problems since graduating from the Sheriff's Academy in March, Whitmore said.
McClain suffered minor injuries in the attack and will be arraigned at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach when his medical treatment is completed, prosecutors said. He is being held in lieu of $1-million bail.
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scott.glover@latimes.com
richard.winton@latimes.com
Times staff writer Tony Barboza contributed to this report.
