Two East Peoria minors involved in stabbing incident

Saturday’s altercation between two adolescents at East Side Center resulted in their apprehension on felony charges.

Saturday, according to East Peoria Police Department Deputy Chief Ryan Billingsley, two adolescents, one in eighth grade and another who was not enrolled in school but would have been a freshman in high school, began to fight at the facility.

Both had knives, but the eighth-grader had put his aside, allowing the older teen to repeatedly stab him. All of the injuries were non-fatal, but Billingsley noted that the younger child was “very fortunate.”

According to him, the elder teen was taken to the Peoria County Juvenile Detention Center and charged with aggravated battery. Tazewell County lacks a juvenile detention facility and relies on Peoria County to house juveniles when necessary.

The juvenile was not brought into custody, but was arrested for aggravated battery.

Multiple circumstances can constitute aggravated battery, including the use of a weapon or a struggle in a public place.

It was uncertain what sparked the altercation, and further information regarding the melee at Eastside could not be disclosed because the two involved were minors. Kevin Johnson, the state’s attorney for Tazewell County, did not immediately return a call.