Not a shooting, but a new low. Stabbing a bunch of children at a birthday part for a 3 year old
3-Year-Old Dies After Mass Stabbing at Her Birthday Party, Authorities Say
A 3-year-old girl who was among nine people stabbed at her birthday party in Idaho over the weekend has died from her injuries, the police said on Monday.
The girl was celebrating her birthday at an apartment complex in Boise on Saturday night when a man who had recently been ejected from the complex returned and came upon the toddler’s outdoor party just a few doors down from where he had been staying, the Boise Police Department said.
The man, Timmy Earl Kinner, 30, was charged on Monday with murder and eight counts of aggravated battery. He appeared in court and was ordered held without bail.
The Ada County Public Defender’s Office, which is representing Mr. Kinner, did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.
The police did not release the 3-year-old’s name, but the International Rescue Committee, a global humanitarian organization that works with refugees,
identified her as Ruya Kadir, an Ethiopian refugee who was brought to the United States by her mother in 2015. The girl’s father lives in Turkey.
“Ruya’s parents are enduring every parent’s worst nightmare, which is made doubly cruel by the fact that they fled to America to escape conflict in Ethiopia,” David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, said in a statement.
“Our caseworkers describe Ruya as a child who always sparkled when she walked into a room,” he added. “She was her mother’s princess, always the center of attention, and loved pink and Disney princesses.”
The authorities have not released the names of the five other children, ranging in age from 4 to 12, who were injured in the stabbing. Three adults were also wounded while trying to intervene after Mr. Kinner went on a stabbing spree about 8:45 p.m. Saturday, the police said.
By Monday, one child had been treated at the hospital and released. Seven victims remained in the hospital, many with serious injuries, the police said.
The
attack happened at the Wylie Street Station Apartments, home to a diverse community including refugees and families with children. The stabbing victims were from Ethiopia, Iraq and Syria, according to the police, who have said there was no evidence the attack was a hate crime.
The authorities said Mr. Kinner had been a temporary resident at the apartment complex; a resident had allowed him to stay at her apartment after he said he needed a place to go.
But Mr. Kinner was asked to leave the complex on Friday, after that resident and neighbors became concerned with his behavior, the police said.
Mr. Kinner left peacefully, but went back to the complex on Saturday for revenge, William L. Bones, the police chief in Boise, said at a news conference on Sunday.
Mr. Kinner returned “to exact vengeance not just on those that he had been with, as they were not at the apartment, but at any target which was available,” Chief Bones said. “The tragedy,” he said, was that the birthday party was near where Mr. Kinner had stayed.
Mr. Kinner has an extensive criminal history spanning multiple states and has spent time in prison, Chief Bones said.
An Ada County deputy prosecutor said on Monday that Mr. Kinner was homeless, according to
The Idaho Statesman. The newspaper reported that Mr. Kinner had been in Utah in April and California before that.