A young girl was apparently stabbed by a male intruder Saturday in the small Calaveras County town of Valley Springs. The incident seems to have happened during a break-in, and the eight-year-old victim was discovered by her twelve-year-old brother. The brother saw a man, only described as white or Latino, wearing a black shirt and blue pants, running out of the house, and the assailant was also seen by a neighbor as well.

Authorities conducted a door-to-door of the hilly, Gold Country area on Saturday night and into Sunday, checking homes, storage sheds, and attics one by one. The search has so far turned up no suspects. Meanwhile the normally quiet village has been stormed by helicopters and SWAT teams, and the residents are all on lockdown. The manhunt is ongoing.

The victim, third grader Leila Fowler, died from shock and hemorrhaging from multiple stab wounds.

"This kind of thing does not happen here," said Julia Poland, a local mother of a 13-year-old, speaking to the Modesto Bee.

[Modesto Bee]
[AP/NYT]