Amanda Vaughan
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, September 26, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - A 17-year-old boy is being charged with aggravated assault and a weapons-related offence after a stabbing occurred just outside of the downtown core early Saturday morning.

According to an RCMP press release, police received a call reporting a stabbing at around 2:50 a.m. that morning. After arriving at the scene, they found two "youths" had been stabbed in an altercation that had taken place on Franklin Avenue between 57th Street and Tommy Forrest Ball Park.

The two victims were taken to Stanton Hospital with serious but non-life threatening knife wounds. A third youth who was with the hospitalized victims had been assaulted but received no injuries.

Police did not disclose the nature of the victim's injuries, but according to one radio report, one was stabbed in the chest while the other was stabbed in the neck. The report also states that the victims are in their 20s.

Sgt. Vic Steinhammer, with the Yellowknife RCMP detachment, said the 17-year-old and one adult male were taken into custody after the incident, however, the adult male was later released without charges.

According to Steinhammer, police believe the altercation occurred after two groups of individuals crossed paths and argued.

"We haven't had an opportunity to speak to the victims yet," he said on Monday, adding that police did not have any further details about the incident at the time.

In a later RCMP release issued Tuesday morning, police stated that one of the victims had been released from hospital while the other still remained.

The incident comes just days after an incident at William McDonald school where a youth is potentially facing charges after pulling a knife on another youth on Wednesday.

Sgt. Larry O'Brien of the RCMP G division said police have not yet gone ahead with charges in that case, but that they were still interviewing witnesses as of Monday. The RCMP were also working with William McDonald staff to counteract the possible effects of a knife incident on school grounds.

"The school and the detachment are working together to deal with the incident at present, to educate students on school safety" O'Brien said, adding that officers made presentations in classrooms on Friday.

Steinhammer said the suspect in Saturday's incident faces charges of two counts of aggravated assault, one count of possession of a weapon and one count of common assault. The RCMP are asking anyone else who might have information regarding the incident to contact the Yellowknife detachment or Crime Stoppers.