Gang unit makes arrest in stabbing of 13-year-old boy

Vancouver police detectives say they have arrested a 17-year-old boy for alleged attempted murder in the gang-related stabbing of a 13-year-old boy early Thursday morning.

The stabbing was reported about 3:25 a.m. Thursday in the 2000 block of Brandt Road, in the Harney Heights neighborhood just south of East Fourth Plain Boulevard and not far from Evergreen Park.

The victim, found stabbed on a road, was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries not believed life-threatening, according to a bulletin from the Vancouver Police Department.

Detectives with the police Safe Streets Task Force, which works gang crimes, investigated, identified the suspect and arrested him.

“This area is experiencing an increase in gang activity and this assault is believed to be gang-involved,” police said in the bulletin.

To protect the victim from more attacks, police won’t release his name or say where he is.

Those with information about the stabbing are asked to call 911 and ask to speak with a Safe Streets Task Force detective.

John Branton: 360-735-4513 or john.branton@columbian.com.