Idaho police say nine people were hospitalized early Sunday and one man is in custody after a mass stabbing at a Boise apartment complex that is home to many refugee families, Associated Press reported.
Boise Police Chief Bill Bones said all nine were taken to area hospitals, some with life-threatening injuries.
“At this point we haven’t lost anybody, but as I said the injuries are very serious,” Bones said.
The police did not yet have a suspected motive for the Saturday night attack but said a 30-year-old man was in custody.
“It’s a single evil individual who attacked,” Bones said. “No provocation that we are aware of.”
Bones said the attack resulted in the most victims in a single incident in Boise Police Department history. “As you can imagine, the Wylie Street Apartment and our community is reeling from this attack,” he said.
Police received a report of a stabbing at 8:46 p.m., and responded to the apartment complex within four minutes, Bone said. They found victims in the parking lot and inside the apartment complex. Witnesses reported that the suspect had fled, and police arrested the 30-year-old man a short distance away.
Investigators said they did not yet know if the suspect was connected to the victims in any way.
Police did not release the names or ages of the victims, but said their age ranges varied dramatically and “it’s affected all aspects of the families” who live at the complex.
Investigators were searching a nearby canal and the crime scene late Saturday night. Bones said police believe the knife used in the stabbing was discarded by the suspect prior to his arrest.