A teen boy who stabbed a teenage girl in Lakeside in what prosecutors argued was racially motivated attack last year was sentenced earlier this month to spend 480 days in custody in a youthful offender treatment program.
The boy, whose name is withheld due to his age, was charged, along with his 15-year-old girlfriend, for the April 16, 2022 stabbing.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department said a group of youths angrily confronted the 16-year-old victim, who is Black, as well as members of the victim's family. The hostile teens shouted racial slurs at the girl and her relatives, as they were apparently upset about an assault that had occurred earlier in the day, sheriff's Lt. Shawn Wray said.
Get San Diego local news, weather forecasts, sports and lifestyle stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters.
The boy, who was 16 years old at the time of the incident, stabbed the victim twice in the back, according to prosecutors, who said his girlfriend wielded a drainage grate towards the victim's mother just before the stabbing.
Prosecutors sought to try the boy as an adult, but a judge rejected the prosecution's request to transfer him to adult court.
Local
The boy later pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury and a hate crime allegation and was sentenced last Friday to 480 days in the HOPE program, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.
His girlfriend was tried in juvenile court last year and a judge found her guilty of assault and a hate crime allegation. She was sentenced to 120 days an in-custody Urban Camp program.
