HERRIMAN, Utah -- A teenager is in the hospital in stable condition after a strange turn of events at a sleepover ended with him being stabbed with a samurai sword, by his best friend.
Lt. Lex Bell of the Unified Police Department said they were dispatched to a home near 7000 West and Long Ridge Drive in Herriman just after 6 a.m. Saturday, when a 17-year-old boy stabbed his lifelong friend in the gut, "all the way through."
"The father jumped out of bed, ran upstairs and confronted our suspect—the 17-year old—who was trying to obtain another weapon to stab the kid again," Lt. Bell said.
As the friend fought with the 17-year old victim's father, the mother called 911. But even the officer who arrived couldn't get control of the suspect.
"There was still a huge physical fight going on, our officer tried to use a Taser on our 17-year old suspect," he said, adding that, "the Taser was ineffective."
That could give them a clue to what was going on.
"Certain types of narcotics will make it so the Taser just doesn't have any effect on them," Lt. Bell said, adding that, "a psychotic breakdown" was another possibility.
Fire fighters then showed up, but by policy couldn't go inside to treat the victim until the scene was secured by police.
"They could hear how out-of-control this fight was," Lt. Bell said.
Because of that, they decided to forego the policy and jump in to help. It's thanks to that decision, Lt. Bell said, that they could finally get control of the teen and prevent him from harming anyone else.
He said the victim was flown to the hospital in extremely critical condition, but was stabilized after surgery.
The suspect was also sent to the hospital, to be evaluated. Lt. Bell said the two had no issues, and it's still unclear why the teen would stab his friend so violently.
The suspect's name has not been released, and given his age it is unlikely police will identify him. Lt. Bell said they could charge him with aggravated assault.
