RAYTOWN, Mo. – Prosecutors charged a 67-year-old Missouri man with domestic assault and armed criminal action hours after authorities say he stabbed his 12-year-old grandson.
Court documents show that Jose Ortega told investigators he and his grandson argued over a doughnut and he stabbed the boy after he "snapped."
The charging document also says that Ortega grabbed him by the neck and threw the boy to the ground before he stabbed him in the arm, according to WDAF.
Paramedics rushed the boy to Children's Mercy Hospital Tuesday morning. Police found a 10-inch blade with apparent blood on it in the driveway of the victim's home, and blood smeared on a storm door of the home.
Banging on the door woke up neighbors just around 7 a.m. after the boy ran across the street looking for someone to help him.
"All I could understand from him was him and his grandpa was joking around," said Dana Payne, a neighbor who helped the boy. "He was getting ready for school. Then his grandpa started calling him a liar, something about Google Maps and he just reached for a butcher knife and stabbed him."
Payne brought the 12-year-old boy into her house to find him cradling his arm in a cloth. She says his forearm had been stabbed all the way through with a butcher knife.
Payne says the boy explained that his grandfather had attacked him, but he didn't understand why. Her daughter, Courtney, says the boy repeatedly asked, "Why did my grandpa try to kill me?"
"I looked down at the child and I saw his arm and I was like, 'Get in here, c'mon get in the house. C'mon get in the house,' because it was more his safety than anything," Courtney Payne said. "I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. The whole time he’s sitting there like, 'Am I going to lose my arm? What happened? Why did he do this? Why did grandpa do this to me?'"
Courtney says she tried to calm the boy down and rode with him to the hospital in the ambulance. She says he's doing okay but is still a little scared.
The Paynes say they were glad to be able to help the child and keep him safe. The neighbors had seen him a couple of times but never really met him. People on the block say it's usually pretty quiet, with no trouble.
Just before 11 a.m. the boy's grandfather returned home and police took him into custody without incident.
When police interviewed Ortega, he said he did not want to kill his grandson, but wanted to hurt him. He said he knew what he did was wrong and expressed remorse. Prosecutors have requested a $50,000 bond.
