Family of 6 stabbed in Kensington
One of the victims, a 46-year-old woman, had sustained wounds to her head and neck and was in critical condition
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A family of six was stabbed in a Kensington home early Friday morning, with the suspect in custody soon after the violent attacks, police said.
Shortly after 4 a.m. Friday, police received a call of a stabbing on the 3000 block of North Front Street, police said. When officers arrived, they found six members of a family suffering from stab wounds. The victims ranged in age from 26 to 55.
Two of the victims, a 32-year-old woman and a 49-year-old woman, were in critical condition at Temple University Hospital.
Police arrested a 29-year-old man a few blocks away from the house, covered in blood and with cuts on the insides of his hands, 6ABC reported. Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said some of the family members identified the man as the suspect.
Police found two blood-covered knives with 7-inch blades at the scene. The stabbings happened in three bedrooms on the second floor of the house, Small told 6ABC.
Police did not have additional information as of 10:47 a.m. Friday.
By Friday morning, life appeared to return to normal on the block where the vicious attacks happened.
Investigators were no longer at the house where the attacks occurred when a man who identified himself as Kenneth Holmes answered the door wearing a hoodie stained with blood.
“Everyone is recovering. We’re not prepared to talk right now,” he said before closing the door.
Ana DeJesus, 69, lives two houses away. It was not until she spotted television news trucks on the block that she learned of the crimes, she said, standing on her porch.
”Terrible. Terrible. You never know when you go to sleep if you’re going to wake up,” said DeJesus, who has lived on the block seven years. She said that she had never seen nor heard anything that hinted of trouble at the victims’ home.
”I hope everybody comes out alright. I’ve never heard of any problems over there.”
Hedyanne Valliness, 48, said the matriarch of the family has lived on the block for more than 20 years
The woman, who was among those stabbed, shares the home with extended family including a grandchild with special needs, Valliness said.
”It was a surprise for all of us because they are not that type of family,” she said. “They are very loving people. My kids play with her grandkids. They are not loud or nothing. … She is not a problem person. None of them are.”