A 23-year-old St. Louis Park woman is accused of stabbing a co-worker in the back five times, attempting to kill him, after she was offended that he asked her to stop playing with a 12-inch butcher knife.



Rakisha Alexandrin Washington is charged with second degree attempted murder and first degree assault in the Aug. 17 incident that left her co-worker hospitalized with a collapsed lung and a significant puncture to his kidney. According to the criminal complaint:

Washington's co-worker invited her to his apartment on the 6900 block of Excelsior Blvd the evening of Aug. 16 to talk about her relationship problems. The two spoke amicably, drinking alcohol, for much of the evening, but at one point Washington retrieved the 12-inch butcher knife from the kitchen and began to play with it.

When her co-worker asked her to put it down because it was making him uncomfortable, she responded that she had once stabbed her husband 11 to 13 times, the co-worker later told police. The co-worker repeated his request with more conviction.

"That really hurts me that you would think I would stab you because I love you," the co-worker quoted Washington as saying. "I care about you, and it hurts my heart that you would think I would stab you."

Washington continued to play with the knife and eventually her co-worker took it out of her hand, putting it back in the kitchen and heading to his bathroom.

When he left the bathroom, he told police that Washington ambushed him from around a corner and began stabbing him a "bunch of times" in the back, near his vital organs. He was able to turn and grab the knife, sustaining a blade wound in his hand. His back bleeding from five holes, he then raised himself to his feet, ran out of the apartment with his knife and knocked on the door of a neighbor before collapsing on the bloody hallway carpet.