<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0e3rsp_0vlEp3s600" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0e3rsp_0vlEp3s600" width="1320" height="743" >FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — A 17-year-old arrested for stabbing two other teens says he was acting in self-defense after he was attacked first by a group targeting him because of his sexual orientation.The stabbing happened Tuesday evening near the Park 16 Apartments on South 356th Street in Federal Way.Police are still trying to verify these claims but told KOMO News they are investigating the stabbing, as well as the hate crime allegations. So far, only one 17-year-old has been arrested in this incident, but the teen’s family says he had a right to defend himself.“I do hope they drop the charges because it's not fair to him that he was assaulted and attacked by a group of kids, and it was just him minding his business,” Patrina Hicks said.Hicks’ son was walking near the Park 16 Apartments to catch a ride home when she says he was confronted by a group of classmates targeting him because of his sexual orientation.“They started taunting him, calling him gay and f****t,” she said. “So he turned around, and as he turned around, he was punched in the face, and he said everything went black, and he just started swinging to protect himself.”Federal Way police say two of the teens were stabbed during the fight and had minor injuries. A witness at the apartments who wanted to remain anonymous told KOMO News the teens went there for help but did not want to go to the hospital or call 911 instead, wanting to leave the area.“One of the kids had a pretty deep side gut wound,” she said, adding another teen appeared to be stabbed in the back near his spine.“I was talking to the other kid that had gotten stabbed, and he's like, ‘I'm not going to stay here. I'm going to go to Todd Beamer [High School],” she said. “I was like, ‘Please don't. You got stabbed, no matter what the circumstances are, you are bleeding, you are injured, you need help, please stay,’ and it took like 20 minutes for me to convince him to stay there and get medical attention.”<img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0K0qn3_0vlEp3s600" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0K0qn3_0vlEp3s600" width="648" height="365" >Police say the two teens stabbed would not cooperate with officers on the scene. Officers took Hicks’ son into custody, and he could face charges for the assault.“It's ridiculous, he was protecting himself and it's not fair that he's the one being punished for protecting himself when he was assaulted by a group of people,” Hicks said. “I could see if it was just one other person, but this is like five or six other kids who were out here just being ignorant for no reason.”But Hicks maintains her son was only defending himself with a knife he carries for protection, and they believe he’s the victim of a hate crime.“He's finally been tired of being bullied, and like I've always told him, 'You need to learn to protect yourself because regardless of whatever, the world is rough, and life gets difficult,' and for people to do things like that, that's a hate crime,” she said.KOMO News learned there may be body camera footage verifying the teen was targeted because of his sexual orientation, and we’ve requested that body camera footage.Meanwhile, prosecutors on the case intend to decide by Friday whether or not to charge Hicks’ son with a crime.The self-defense and hate crime allegations, along with the stabbing, are still being investigated.</div></body>

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Teen arrested for Federal Way stabbing claims self-defense against homophobic attack

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — A 17-year-old arrested for stabbing two other teens says he was acting in self-defense after he was attacked first by a group targeting him because of his sexual orientation. The stabbing happened Tuesday evening near the Park 16 Apartments on South 356th Street in Federal...