15-Year-Old Charged With Deadly Stabbing Of Longmont Woman
LONGMONT, Colo. (CBS4) - A 15-year-old boy is in police custody after the deadly stabbing of a woman at her Longmont apartment.
Police responded to the Shores Apartments on Airport Road near Highway 66 shortly after 6pm Saturday. When officers arrived, the teen suspect had already left the scene, said a spokesman with the Longmont Police Department.
Neighbors left flowers Sunday on a stairway railing near where the victim collapsed on the concrete hallway of the floor below her apartment.
Multiple crime scene tags remained in the stairwell.
Michael Brown, a neighbor, said he was doing dishes when he heard "thud, thud, thud" and went outside to see what the noise was. He saw his upstairs neighbor, who he described as a woman in her 20's, lying on the floor.
He said he soon discovered that she had been stabbed and was bleeding from the chest.
After calling 911, the former Navy Corpsman began performing life-saving measures.
"I rolled her over (and) was starting to apply pressure," Brown told CBS4's Melissa Garcia.
He said the suspect, dressed in full motorcycle gear including a helmet, came at him with a knife.
Brown's 8-month-old son was feet away inside his apartment unit.
"That was honestly my first thought when he started coming after me with the knife was for my son," Brown said. "I ran towards my door, locked it. Went inside to grab my gun. When I came back out, he was gone."
The victim died a short time later at a nearby hospital.
"(I feel) very very sad," Brown said. "I wish I could have done something for her."
Police arrested the teen suspect in Lakewood about seven hours later.
Authorities said the suspect is a resident of Lakewood, about an hour away from Longmont.
"It's pretty shocking," said Dani O'Connell, another neighbor. "And also just the fact that the suspect is so young, I think is what got me the most."
The teen faces a charge of first degree murder.
His relationship to the victim was unknown.
Investigators had not disclosed a possible motive.
According to police records obtained by CBS4, the suspect had been reported Friday as a runaway. Records also showed previous charges, including Felony Menacing.
Melissa Garcia has been reporting for CBS4 News since March 2014. Find her bio here, follow her on Twitter @MelissaGarciaTV, or send your story idea to mkgarcia@cbs.com.