Clerk, teen suspect in stable condition after Kenmore convenience store stabbing

KENMORE, Wash. -- A 52-year-old clerk and a 15-year-old boy stabbed during an altercation at a Kenmore convenience store are in stable condition Tuesday.

The two were rushed to the hospital after the teen came into the store and allegedly threatened the clerk with a knife. The clerk apparently fought back, and both suffered life-threatening injuries during the encounter.

A man who lives in the tent behind the store may have prevented the stabbing from becoming a deadly one.  Steven Degroot told Q13 News on Monday that he didn't think twice about running into the store after his wife said she heard blood-curdling screams for help.

"Really I didn't think about it, I was just worried about the clerk. I saw all the blood, you couldn't even see his face that's how bad his wounds were...the store clerk was screaming 'help me! help me' so I pinned the guy down to the floor and had the store clerk move back and try to stop the bleeding," said Degroot.

Degroot says the clerk is a good man and there was no way he could stand up and let him die, especially in what appears to be such a senseless attack.

The incident was the fifth attack on a store clerk in the last week in the North Sound.  The teen suspect is being guarded at the hospital.