Charges filed in ML stabbing

EPHRATA - Charges have been filed against two Moses Lake teenagers allegedly involved in a stabbing.

Victor Mejia, 16, and Dahndre Westwood, 14, were both charged with first-degree assault recently. Mejia is being charged as an adult because of a state law that permits 16- and 17-year-olds to be charged as adults for certain crimes.

A third boy allegedly involved in the altercation, 17-year-old Travis Stotts, has been arrested, but has not been charged yet.

On Wednesday, Grant County sheriff's deputies responded to a reported stabbing near Lowry Street and Arlington Drive.

A 16-year-old male was reportedly stabbed twice in the back during a fight and taken to Samaritan Hospital in Moses Lake for treatment.

According to the sheriff's report, a 19-year-old man was with the victim when the fight occurred.

The 19-year-old reportedly told police that he had seen Mejia and Westwood walking on Adair Street and told them to leave because he was concerned they were breaking into cars and houses.

After the man came home, he left again to pick up the victim and went back out to find Mejia and Westwood.

The 19-year-old reportedly told law enforcement they found Mejia, Westwood and Stotts near Lowry Street and Arlington Drive. When the victim got out of the car Westwood was already in a fighting stance.

According to court documents, the victim and Westwood began to fight while Mejia, who produced a knife, and Stotts, approached the 19-year-old.

Westwood allegedly had the victim in a headlock and told Mejia to get him. The 19-year-old male reportedly told law enforcement that Mejia started to stab the victim.

When the victim broke free Westwood chased him with a large kitchen knife and stabbed him in the back, according to court documents.

Law enforcement reportedly found a bloody knife in a garbage can at Mejia's home.