A St. Croix woman was arrested on charges of assault, attempted murder and child abuse. On Friday, 911 emergency call operators sent police to the Mount Welcome area after hearing the screams of children and the sounds of a fight in progress coming over the open call line.
Their search for the source of the call sent police driving around the area until they heard a disturbance and the sound of screaming children coming from an apartment in a section of Christainsted. What they found, according to court documents, were two people — a woman and a disabled man — bleeding from various injuries. Both were rushed to Juan F. Luis Hospital for treatment.
Police also encountered signs of an apparent violent struggle with overturned furniture and “blood spattered everywhere throughout the apartment.”
They also saw a woman underneath a flipped sofa pulling the children over to join her. After police failed to persuade the children to open the door, court records said a neighbor appeared with a front door key.
“(The officer) heard a female voice telling the children not to open the front door because the police were going to kill her,” the document said.
As they opened the door, officers said the woman, identified as Tiniqua Knowles, ran out with the children following her. A search of the premises led to the discovery of a male in a bedroom with apparent stab wounds to his face and neck.
“I’m in the bedroom. Help me; I’m bleeding out,” the injured man said.
Police questioned witnesses, including neighbors and the oldest child, who said he was the one who dialed 911. As family members arrived at the scene, they urged the children not to speak to police; instead, they asked for a victim’s advocate and someone from the Women’s Coalition of St. Croix to assist.
Knowles was questioned the following day after being released from the hospital. She told authorities she was reluctant to make a statement because the female officers were related to the wounded man in the apartment; police assured her they were not.
The stabbing victim told investigators he had known Knowles for several years but they had never been in a relationship. He said he received a call from her before the incident, when she said she wanted to come over to his apartment and bring the children with her because she felt uncomfortable staying in the place where they were living.
“(The injured man) stated that he sent his cousin to pick up Ms. Knowles and her children, and his cousin dropped them off at his apartment,” according to court documents.
Upon arrival, he said, Knowles asked for his key to lock his front door, which he allowed her to do. A short while later, as he was in the kitchen preparing food for the visitors, the man said Knowles stabbed him in the neck.
Knowles was later persuaded to visit the Wilbur Francis Police Command, where she underwent questioning and was read her Miranda Rights before being arrested. She was charged with attempted murder, first- and third-degree assault, use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a crime and child abuse.
Bail was set at $100,000.
