This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Police in Boise, Idaho, said the suspect in a mass stabbing that injured nine people on Saturday targeted a three-year-old girl’s birthday party.

Police chief William Bones said on Sunday that the birthday girl was among the injured, as were five other children aged from four to 12. Three adults who tried to save the children were also hurt. Bones said all the victims were alive, although some were gravely injured.

Bones said a resident of the apartment complex where the stabbing took place had allowed 30-year-old Timmy Kinner to stay there a short time, but asked him to leave on Friday because of his behavior.

Police said Kinner returned on Saturday, when the girl was having her party a few doors down from where he had stayed.

The complex houses many resettled refugee families, but Kinner, from Los Angeles, is not a refugee. Kinner was charged with nine counts of aggravated battery and six counts of injury to a child.

Esrom Habte, 12, and Fathi Mahamoud, 11, were playing in the grass behind their apartment when the attack began.

“It was kind of scary because we were outside,” Habte told reporters as his mother looked on. “He was chasing people and stabbing people. We saw him saying bad words and stabbing a grownup really hard and a lot of times.”

The children ran into an apartment and hid in a closet with other children until police told them it was safe to come out, he said.

Bones said all nine of the injured were taken to hospitals, adding: “At this point we haven’t lost anybody but as I said the injuries are very serious. This incident is not a representation of our community but a single evil individual who attacked people without provocation that we are aware of at this time.”

He said the attack resulted in the most victims in a single incident in Boise police department history. “As you can imagine, the Wylie Street Apartment and our community is reeling from this attack,” he said.

Police received a report of a stabbing at 8.46pm and responded within four minutes, Bones said. They found victims in the parking lot and inside. Witnesses reported the suspect had fled, and police arrested him a short distance away.

Bones said police believe the knife used in the stabbing was discarded by the suspect before his arrest, and police searched a nearby canal as well as the areas around the apartment complex.



The complex is just off one of Boise’s busier streets, separated from traffic by one of the irrigation canals that run through the city. Victim witness coordinators and counsellors were made available to the victims, their families and friends and other residents of the apartment complex.

Boise’s mayor, Dave Bieter, condemned the attack. “Last night’s horrific attack does not represent Boise,” he tweeted. “Please join me in praying for the injured and their families. We must come together to condemn this vile act.”



On Sunday, colorful bouquets rested just outside crime scene tape.