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Gene Kennedy ReportingPolice are investigating two vicious assaults, which are unrelated but have some similarities. The similarity is that both stabbing may have gang connections.
Three girls were walking home from the library yesterday afternoon along 700 South at 300 East when several boys pulled up in a car. The boys mentioned a gang. The girls dropped the name of another gang and a vicious crime took place.
Salt Lake City police say someone then stabbed a 14-year-old girl in the back three times. She's in fair condition at the hospital, but the search continues for whoever did this.
Police are not sure if the girls are gang members. They claim they never met the boys.
Lt. Gary Layton, Salt Lake City Police Dept.: "They claim they've never seen them before. The boys claimed affiliation with a gang they said the name of another gang and apparently that started everything."
Hours earlier at the Willow Hollow Apartments at 4984 W. 4850 South in Kearns, another teen was stabbed after 12 to 15 people got into a fight. Investigators heard that weapons like golf clubs, bats, and sticks may have been used.
One teen was stabbed in the knee. He's in good condition at a hospital.
Just to be clear, these incidents are unrelated, but they are more indications of the ongoing battle police are having with gangs in the valley.
Both teens are expected to make a full recovery. Police are still looking for suspects in both cases.
