9 Injured in Mass Stabbing Attack in Boise

The Boise Police Department reported nine people were in the hospital, some with life-threatening injuries, after they were stabbed at an apartment complex Saturday night. Boise Police Chief Bill Bones said some of the victims are members of Boise's refugee community. The victims range in age. Some were found inside the Wylie Lane Apartments complex, others were found in the nearby parking lot.

Timmy Kinner, 30, of Los Angeles, was arrested on nine felony charges of aggravated battery and six felony charges of injury to a child. He was booked into the Ada County Jail. Investigators do not know the suspect's motive and crews were searching a nearby canal for evidence late Saturday night. Ada County Dispatchers received a call about a man with a knife around 8:45 p.m. [June 30, 2018]. Officers are still investigating why the suspect targeted these individuals.

Four of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries, according to police, and all nine were taken to a hospital. The attack is the largest stabbing in Boise history.  (KOMO4 News, July 1, 2018)

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When we consider personal security, we must be aware that violent criminal attacks can occur at any place and at any time. A criminal doesn't need a gun to commit mass violence - as we see here this unprovoked attack was committed with a knife - yet; "according to U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics data, having a gun and being able to use it in a defensive situation is the most effective means of avoiding injury (more so even than offering no resistance) and thwarting completion of a robbery or assault. In general, resisting violent crime is far more likely to help than to hurt, and this is especially true if your attacker attempts to take you hostage, such as sometimes happens in a carjacking situation. Most often with gun defenses, criminals can be frightened away or deterred without a shot being fired. Estimates of these types of defensive uses of firearms are wide ranging, from a low of 65,000 to 82,000 annual defensive gun uses (DGUs) reported to the U.S. Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), to a high end of some 2.1-2.5 million annual DGUs, but they seem to occur at least as often (if not far more often) each year as misuses of firearms by violent criminals."