Intruder Stabs Girl, 11, in Head

REDONDO BEACH —  An 11-year-old girl was stabbed twice in the head by a burglar, but is recovering from her wounds, authorities said Saturday.

Redondo Beach police said the attack took place shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday, in a house in the 200 block of Avenue D. Sgt. Gary Wiley said the child’s mother called police at 3:27 a.m. to report that her daughter was bleeding from an attack by someone who had broken into the house.

The name of the girl, who was being treated at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, was not immediately available.

Wiley said money and credit cards were missing from the mother’s purse.

Anne Walti, who lives across the street, said she talked to the girl’s mother after the attack.

“Her mother says (the girl) is OK. She had been stabbed up near the hairline near the temple and (also) under the chin,” Walti said.

After the stabbing, the neighbor said, the victim’s 12-year-old brother chased the burglar through the house, mistakenly thinking it was his sister.

“Recently, there had been an opossum in the house and the little girl (had been) hysterical. Her brother thought it was his sister and not a burglar,” Walti said.

The burglar “tried to get out the little girl’s window, but it is an old house and the windows don’t work too well. He couldn’t get out and ran back through the house and out the back door. The little boy was chasing him,” she said.

The uproar woke the girl’s mother, who called police.

Walti said burglars had broken into other houses on the street in recent years, but the break-ins occurred during waking hours.