Authorities believe the stabbing death tonight in Washington was a targeted attack and that the public is not in danger.



A man was stabbed to death in the 200 block of East Washington Street, police say. Washington Township police Chief James McDonald and Warren County Prosecutor Richard Burke said it appears the attack was an isolated incident based on the information they've gathered so far.



Burke said authorities continue to speak with witnesses to develop a description of the assailants. One person was taken to the Washington Township police station, Burke said, but he wouldn't specify who they took or why.



Neighborhood residents said the victim was at the home all day, but did not live there. Burke could neither confirm, nor deny the man lived in the half double that sits on the corner of East Washington Street and Flower Avenue.



"We're still gathering that information," he said.

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Witnesses said they saw the victim lying in the front yard. One person, who asked to remain anonymous citing the nature of the crime, said she believed the victim had been stabbed multiple times.



The witness expressed grave concern that such a violent crime would happen in a stretch of less than a block where no fewer than 12 children live.



"I'm just thankful it wasn't a child who got hurt," she said, adding that children do live in the house where the victim had been staying today.





Neighborhood residents clustered on either side of the crime scene where authorities photographed evidence and set up canopies to cover the sidewalk and front lawn.



Residents who live along the busy stretch of East Washington Avenue report children regularly playing outside in what is generally a safe neighborhood. But the witness who saw the victim on the front lawn said she also sees signs of drug deals at the home.



A Warren Hills Regional High School student, who lives in the neighborhood and walks to her bus stop along Flower Avenue, called the scene "surreal" and like something you'd see in a movie, not in the small town of Washington.



Blood stains were visible on the sidewalk, emergency medical equipment lay in the front yard and a blood smear next to the front door was clearly visible against the faded yellow siding. A pair of Washington Township police officers entered the home about 7:15 p.m. with their guns, equipped with flashlights, drawn.



They left the home about five minutes later.



"You never think this is going to happen in your backyard," the student said.



A teenage boy, wearing football equipment, arrived at the home about 7:30. Onlookers said he lived in the home where the stabbing occurred.



"That boy literally just came home to this," a witness said.



Burke, the prosecutor, could not confirm whether the boy lived in the home or say whether he was related to the victim. Witnesses said three children -- ages 13, 12 and 3 -- live in the home.

Washington has already seen a homicide this year. Ralph Atkinson, of Knowlton Township, is in custody, charged in the murder of Margaret Graf-White. The 45-year-old mother's body was found May 14 in her West Stewart Street apartment in the borough.