Teen Girl to Face Trial in Stabbing Death of Teen Boy

A 15-year-old girl has been ordered to stand trial as an adult in the stabbing death of a 14-year-old boy in South Philadelphia.

Azim Chaplin was stabbed in the chest Feb. 11 along the 2100 block of Watkins Street in the Point Breeze section of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said the knife touched the boy's heart.

Police found the 14-year-old boy in the area of S. 22nd and Moore Streets, a short distance from where the stabbing occurred.

"After being stabbed we believe the boy walked to the 2100 block of S. 22nd Street where he collapsed on the sidewalk," Small said.

Chaplin was transported to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where he underwent emergency heart surgery, according to investigators.

That surgery wasn't enough to save the boy.

Following the stabbing, police arrested 15-year-old Amber Hellesten, of the 2000 block of Sigel Street, and charged her as an adult.

Witnesses told police that Hellesten knew the victim and the pair were arguing when the stabbing occurred.

The girl was arrested about a half a mile away from the scene of the crime.

A judge on Tuesday ordered the girl held for trial on a third-degree murder charge.

Defense attorney David Desiderio sought dismissal of the charges, alleging Chaplin was stabbed after he and his friends followed and taunted the defendant and her friend for more than five blocks, throwing ice and snowballs at them.

Desiderio said Azim was confronting the girls with a six-inch stick when he was stabbed.

Prosecutor Gwenn Cujdik said the girl turned a case of "teenagers being teenagers'' into homicide by overreacting.

 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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