Boy stabbed in chest with kitchen knife

Stabbed in the chest with a kitchen knife, a 12-year-old boy laid bleeding on a Cape Girardeau driveway Tuesday afternoon until medical assistance and police arrived, authorities said.

The boy, unidentified by police, was found at 540 S. Frederick. A 13-year-old juvenile female suspect was taken into custody within 25 minutes of the stabbing.

Detectives spent the remainder of the afternoon questioning her at the Juvenile Detention Center. As of late afternoon, the knife used had not been recovered by police, said Sgt. Rick Schmidt.

Two 911 calls were made at about 2:30 p.m. The first caller reported that the boy had fallen and the second caller said he had been stabbed and was bleeding profusely.

When paramedics and first responders treated him at the scene, he was conscious and talking and was able to tell police his parent's names. The boy was then taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he was listed in critical condition, Schmidt said.

Neighbors stood in small groups watching the emergency teams. No onlookers said they had seen the stabbing.

A woman answering the door at the home where the stabbing occured said the boy was a friend of her son but that he did not live there. The occupants would not comment further about the incident.