Teenage boy held in stabbing death of 11-year-old Antelope Valley girl

A teenage boy was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with the stabbing death of an 11-year-old girl and the wounding of a 14-year-old girl at a home in the Antelope Valley, authorities said.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said the attack occurred at a house in the 10300 block of East Avenue R-14 in Littlerock, a small community near Palmdale.

Sheriff’s deputies went to the house about 7:40 a.m. and found the 11-year-old dead inside. They discovered the other girl badly wounded outside the house. She remains hospitalized in critical condition.

Sheriff’s homicide Lt. Pat Nelson said both girls suffered stab wounds. Doctors were trying to determine if they had other injuries as well, he said.

Nelson said deputies responding to the scene immediately set up a perimeter to find the assailant.

“He was found hiding in a nearby backyard,” Nelson said. “He is a juvenile male age 16 [or] 17 and the only suspect in this incident.”

Detectives are still questioning people connected to the people involved in the incident and trying to understand what happened and why.

“There is some indication he is related in some way” to the victims, Nelson said of the suspect.

richard.winton@latimes.com