5-year-old boy fatally stabs twin in California home with ‘small kitchen knife’: sheriff

A five-year-old boy stabbed his twin brother to death while the pair were fighting in their family home near Santa Cruz, Calif., authorities said. 

The brothers had been fighting at their home on Tucker Road in Scotts Valley, just six miles north of Santa Cruz, when one of the boys grabbed “a small kitchen knife,” the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said. 

The victim stabbed was rushed to a hospital, where he died.

The sheriff’s office called the Wednesday afternoon stabbing “tragic,” and said the twins had simply been fighting “as siblings sometimes do.” 

No charges would be filed in connection to the killing “in light of all circumstances discovered by our investigators,” police said. 

Under California law, criminal intent, age and wrongfulness are factors that must be considered when charging minors with a crime. 

“Based on the current investigation, there is no indication of negligence or criminal activity by any other party,” the sheriff’s office said.