Police seek suspect in Central Hillside stabbing of teenage girl

A 17-year-old girl was in serious condition Saturday after being stabbed and beaten in Duluth’s Central Hillside neighborhood earlier in the day.

An 18-year-old man also was beaten in the early morning assault near the corner of Lake Avenue and Fifth Street, Duluth police said. One suspect, a 17-year-old boy, is in custody; a second suspect was still being sought as of late Saturday afternoon.

According to police:

Officers were called to the 10 block of East Fifth Street at 12:05 a.m. Saturday for an unknown medical call. On arrival, they found a 17-year-old girl with a stab wound to her chest who also had been hit in the head with a blunt object, and an 18-year-old man who had been hit in the head.

The girl was transported to St. Luke’s hospital with what police said were life-threatening injuries. After surgery, she was listed in serious condition Saturday.

The male victim was interviewed and released. Police have not released the names of the two victims, who knew each other and were together when the assault occurred, officials said.

On further investigation, police determined that both victims had been assaulted by a suspect with a baseball bat. The girl also was stabbed by a second suspect with a knife, police said.

Later Saturday morning, at about 4:40 a.m., a Douglas County sheriff’s deputy stopped to assist a motorist with car trouble near Poplar. The motorist was a 17-year-old boy being sought in the Hillside assault, and he was arrested and taken to the Douglas County Jail pending extradition to Minnesota. He faces charges of third-degree assault, and aiding and abetting first-degree assault.

The second suspect is still being sought. The case remains under investigation, and police ask that anyone with information call 911.

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