ROCHESTER, Minn. (WCCO) – A Rochester, Minn. man faces 12 criminal counts of attempted murder, assault, burglary and terroristic threats after allegedly stabbing a toddler and two adults.
According to the criminal complaint, 23-year-old Antonio Deshawn Roebuck stabbed his victims at a home on 10th Street Northwest last Thursday.
The child’s mother told police she saw Roebuck in her apartment early that morning after she heard her child crying.
She had dated Roebuck for less than two months, but broke off the relationship after he assaulted her in February, the complaint says.
Investigators said it appeared Roebuck was targeting the child in the attack before the child’s mother and another man intervened.
The other man was stabbed multiple times in the abdomen as well as in the back before he grabbed the knife, breaking off the blade. He was also bitten in the ear and gashed across the forehead.
The woman’s brother, who also lived in the building, was also injured in the attack. The woman’s other child, a 4-year-old, was not hurt in the assault.
At one point, the toddler’s mother heard Roebuck say, “I will kill you, b****. Why did you cheat on me?” after throwing a television set at her brother. Investigators said Roebuck used a number of knives in the attack, including a butter knife.
The criminal complaint says that officers arriving to the scene saw the toddler’s mother holding her child, who had obviously received a large stab wound to the abdomen. The complaint says it appeared the child’s intestines were protruding from the wound.
According to the complaint, the toddler has been operated on at least three times already, and was still in critical condition due to the four stab wounds to his chest and the laceration to the abdomen. The toddler also suffered a collapsed lung.
Police responding to the attack tracked Roebuck down to a nearby garage. He was taken into custody by a police dog, and was brought to the hospital for injuries sustained therein.
Roebuck told police he had been drinking and smoking marijuana the night before, and didn’t remember anything that happened until he woke up in the hospital. However, though a bottle of vodka was found on the scene that didn’t belong to the victims, the criminal complaint says toxicology tests performed at the Mayo Clinic did not show the presence of alcohol in his system.
Roebuck was later moved to the Olmsted County Jail.
