SHERIFF: 12-year-old arrested for alleged stabbing, believed to be premeditated

Deputies with the Stanton County Sheriff's Office responded to the stabbing Friday night at West City Park in Stanton. 

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Authorities say a 12-year-old girl was arrested after allegedly stabbing another 12-year-old girl. What the Stanton County Sheriff’s Office now believes to be “a premeditated attack.”

Deputies with the Stanton County Sheriff’s Office responded to the stabbing Friday night, around 7:45, at West City Park in Stanton.

“I was actually there in 51 seconds, so I got there pretty quickly. And we found a 12-year-old female was actually holding a knife. Subsequently, we found that she was actually the stabbing victim and she had taken the knife away from the perpetrator after the assault,” explained the Stanton County Sheriff Michael Unger.

Sheriff Unger said the victim had five stab wounds about the back and arm, “with the most serious stab wound being to the lower back, directly above the spine.”

The victim was in serious condition, bleeding severely from her lower back, according to Sheriff Unger. The girl was flown by medical helicopter to Mercy One Medical Center in Sioux City. The victim required multiple staples to close her wounds but has since been released from the hospital.

“Emotionally she is very very traumatically affected,” said Sheriff Unger.

The victim told authorities it was another 12-year-old who stabbed her. The alleged perpetrator had run away before deputies arrived, only to be found 10 minutes later being driven out of Stanton by a family member.

She was arrested on charges of first-degree assault and use of a weapon to commit a felony, according to a news release. The suspect was placed in protective custody and taken to a Lincoln hospital for a mental health evaluation, the release says.

Sheriff Unger says they believe the attack was premeditated as the weapon was “a household-style butcher knife, not a small paring knife, it was a butcher knife.”

Authorities say they do have some idea of what may have led to this altercation but are unable to disclose it at this time.