Florida boy, 9, charged with trying to murder 5-year-old sister with knife

OCALA, Fla. (WITI) -- A 9-year-old boy has been charged with trying to kill his 5-year-old sister by stabbing her with a kitchen knife inside their Florida apartment in January.

The boy was charged Tuesday with attempted first-degree murder. He was in court on Wednesday in Ocala, prosecutors said.

The mother of the children told police that she left the apartment for about 10 minutes to check the mail and get some candy for her children from a neighbor apartment complex. When she returned to check on them, she found her son stabbing her daughter in his room, the affidavit said.

“Die, die!” she recalled him saying, according to the affidavit.

The mother said she grabbed the knife from her son and rushed her daughter to the bathroom, and that her son ran out of the apartment, the affidavit said. The boy was located on the property and taken into custody shortly after law enforcement arrived on the scene.

When an officer asked the boy why he stabbed his sister, the boy told him that he wanted to kill her and that “the thought had entered his head two days earlier,” according to the affidavit.

He said he tried to get it out of his head but could not, according to the affidavit.

The boy remained detained and was being represented by the public defender's office.