Suspect still at large after stabbing of 7-year-old girl on playground

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – Police are actively searching for a man they say stabbed a 7-year-old girl at the World of Wonder at Residence Park School Friday afternoon. The 7-year-old girl remains in critical condition at Dayton Children’s Hospital.

Police say the 2nd-grader was stabbed by a stranger while playing on the swings. It happened on the playground at World of Wonder at Residence Park School in Dayton. Charmine Blunt is a parent of students at the school. She says she was waiting inside the gym when she heard commotion outside.

“All of the sudden we just hear the kids screaming and running,” Blunt said. “We were like what’s going on what’s going on. And they said a little girl got stabbed so we all run out here to see what’s going on and it was a guy with some blue shorts on.”

Police describe the attacker as a black male between the ages of eighteen and twenty years old.

“He’s 5’8″ to 5’10″ wearing either beige or blue athletic shorts and either a beige or green sweatshirt and an orange t-shirt,” Dayton Police Lt. Eric Henderson said.

Many neighbors in the area are in disbelief.

“I can’t even imagine someone coming on the school ground just stabbing a kid a 2nd grader,” Cassandra Beamon said. ” That blows me away.”

Dayton Public Schools Spokesperson David Lawrence says the school immediately took action to protect the other students.

“The school was immediately placed on lock-down.” Lawrence said. “Safety and security personel immediately reacted from our other surrounding schools and were on site to help support.”

Going forward, the school says it’ll have additional security at recess. School officials also say counseling will be available for staff and students on Monday. At this time, investigators say they don’t know why the child was attacked.

If you have any information they could help them them in search, contact Dayton Police at 333-COPS or Crime Stoppers at 222-STOP (7867).