WANTED: Home intruder who stabbed 11-year-old with screwdriver until family could help
Surveillance photo of man suspected of a home invasion and stabbing a boy in the arm with a screwdriver. (Photo from Everett Police Dept. video
EVERETT -- Police have surveillance video of a man suspected of stabbing an 11-year-old boy with a screwdriver in his Everett apartment. They’re hoping someone can help them identify him. Debbie Geer heard the suspect getting away late on the night of Aug. 26. But at the time, she didn’t realize what was happening. “I heard running, a bunch of people running and screaming,” she said Wednesday night. “I’d say within 10-15 minutes of that, the police were here, the dogs were out. They were telling everybody to stay in their house.” Police say the man got into the family’s apartment through an open window. He used a screwdriver to pry the screen off, then stabbed the boy in the arm with that screwdriver when he ran into him in the hall. “It doesn’t appear he was there to assault anybody,” said Aaron Snell of the Everett Police Department. “It was possibly just a reaction when he saw the 11-year-old.”
The intruder then rounded up the whole family in the kitchen. But the family fought back. “When all the adults were in the kitchen, they grabbed knives and advanced on the male,” said Snell. The surveillance video shows the man running away, as the family chases and throws things at him. Police say the intruder didn’t steal anything, and he didn’t assault any other residents in the apartment complex. But Geer said she’s scared that he hasn’t been caught yet. “I have a daughter that I have to worry about; she has to go to and from school. Now I have to take even extra precautions.” She’s hoping the complex will install locks on the gates, and she’s hoping all her neighbors learn from this terrible crime. “Lock your windows, make sure they’re locked, especially if it’s 10:30 at night and especially if it’s your kid’s room.” The boy was taken to the hospital and treated for his stab wound. The suspect is described as a thin white man in his late 20s or early 30s, about 5-foot-7, with blond hair. If you recognize him, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.