Nine people have been hospitalized following a stabbing attack at an apartment complex where refugee families live in Boise, Idaho, according to Boise
Nine people have been hospitalized following a stabbing attack at an apartment complex where refugee families live in Boise, Idaho, according to Boise Police Chief William Bones.
« We haven’t had anything involving this amount of victims in a single attack in Boise in the history of the department, » Bones told reporters following the Saturday evening attack.
The Boise Police Department said four of the victims are being treated for life-threatening injuries. The people injured include members of the refugee community.
Police responded to reports of an incident on Saturday evening at 8:46 p.m., as Bones described, and a 30-year-old man was taken into custody minutes later at gunpoint after he fled the scene. « We don’t know anything about his motive or reason for the crime, » said Bones.
It’s not clear whether the suspect had any links to the people who live in the apartment complex that was attacked.
« It’s not a symbol or a representation of our community in Boise, but it’s a single evil individual who attacked people with no provocation that we are aware of, » he said. The suspect, whose identity was not immediately released, is being questioned by authorities.
The police found victims of the attack both within apartments and in the complex’s parking lot. « The age range of the victims varies dramatically. And it’s affected all aspects of the families within the apartment complex, » Bones said. « At this point we haven’t lost anybody but as I said, the injuries are very, very serious. »
Bones described the apartment complex as a « tight-knit community. » According to Idaho Statesman, « Wylie Street Station Apartments offers low-income family rentals under a U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program that limits rent payments to 30 percent of a renter’s income. »
Police said that they secured the scene, and The Associated Press describes that early on Sunday « there were still dozens of police cars and officers at the apartment complex, with yellow evidence markers placed around the parking lot. »
The wire service adds that « Officers told some residents of the complex who were trying to go home that they should either find a motel or go to a nearby church for shelter, because the complex wouldn’t be opened to residents before daylight. »
