5 year old California boy stabs twin brother to death during fight at their Santa Cruz County home. No charges to follow.
A 5-year-old boy in California has died after his twin brother stabbed him during a fight at their family home.
The twins were fighting Wednesday when one brother grabbed a small kitchen knife and stabbed his sibling in unincorporated Scotts Valley, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. The boy died at the hospital.
The sheriff’s office called the Wednesday afternoon stabbing ‘tragic,’ and said the twins had simply been fighting ‘as siblings sometimes do.’
Criminal intent and child psychology
‘We are heartbroken for the family of these two young children and share in their grief,’ the sheriff’s office wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.
Authorities said they do not plan to file criminal charges in the death.
‘California law dictates that age, criminal intent, and knowledge of wrongfulness are factors needed to charge a child with a crime,’ the Facebook post stated. ‘Based on the current investigation, there is no indication of negligence or criminal activity by any other party.’
KRON4 cited psychologist reports which tells of young children often getting in fights and not necessarily understanding the consequences of their actions or behavior.
Cited psychologists say children as young as 5 years old are still learning to control their emotions and that sometimes when situations turn aggressive, impulses can take over.
Scotts Valley is roughly 55 miles (89 kilometers) south of San Francisco.
