A five-year-old girl suffering from multiple stab wounds was rushed to an area hospital late Monday afternoon – the apparent victim of an attack by her older brother.
Ocala Police officers and medical personnel scrambled to the Berkeley Pointe Apartments at 4:20 p.m. after receiving a call about a stabbing inside one of the units at the complex. When they arrived, they found the victim alert and able to communicate. The girl was airlifted to UF Health Shands Hospital for treatment of her injuries and a condition report wasn’t available Monday night.
Officers found the nine-year-old suspect a short time later hiding in a maintenance shed on the property. He admitted to stabbing his sister in the back while his mother was away from the apartment for a short time, a police report states.
The boy allegedly said he wanted to kill his sister – a thought that had “entered his head two days earlier.” He said he tried to get the thought out of his head but couldn’t, so he grabbed a knife from the kitchen and hid it behind his back while entering his bedroom, the report says.
The boy said he then grabbed his sister by the back of her neck while she was bent over and started stabbing her while allegedly saying, “Die, die.” He said his mother arrived home and took the knife away from him and he ran to hide underneath the shed, the report says.
The boy also told officers that his sister was on roller skates and was trying to show him something. When asked again why he stabbed her, the boy said “he wanted to be able to go outside,” the report says.
The boy was charged with attempted first-degree murder. Police consider the incident an isolated case and don’t believe there is a threat to the public in that area.
Last week, Ocala Police officers were called to a home in the 3600 block of NE 21st Street after a child was believed to have been accidentally shot by a juvenile sibling. That child was alert and able to communicate when officers arrived and was transported to an area hospital in stable condition.