SEATTLE -- A birthday party turned to chaos Sunday morning when a woman was stabbed to death by her ex-husband in front of dozens of people, and then the man was shot and killed by a man who witnessed the stabbing, Seattle police said.

Police say it all happened just before 1:30 a.m. at the VFW Post 6599 and Ladies Auxiliary Building on Martin Luther King Way South in South Seattle.

Witnesses told police there were group of about 40-50 people there celebrating a birthday when a man walked in looking for his 33-year-old ex-wife, who had a restraining order against him.

They say the man found his ex, and then grabbed her and started stabbing her. Other people tried to hit him with chairs and tables to stop him, but they say the man kept stabbing the woman -- even cutting other people in the process -- until someone else pulled out a gun and shot him.

Medics tried to help the victim, but she had already died. Her ex-husband was taken to Harborview Medical Center where he later died.

Homicide detectives questioned the shooter and then released him. The shooter apparently did not know the man he shot or the woman who was stabbed, but police say he had a license to carry a gun. Detectives took the gun into custody as matter of procedure.

The victim's name has not been released. But one person at the party told KOMO 4 News that the couple had a 2-year-old daughter together, and that the victim had four children total.