Hill District woman accused of stabbing her children, ages 3 and 7, as they slept

Pittsburgh police said a Hill District woman told them how she walked into her sons’ room early Friday and stabbed both in the neck with a kitchen knife. The children’s father was able to wrestle away from her before summoning police for his critically injured sons, police said.

Sydnie Jefferson, 29, is charged with two counts each of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, child endangerment and reckless endangerment.

Police said the children’s father ran from their Dinwiddie Street home to the Zone 2 police station on Centre Avenue shortly before 7 a.m. with his 3-year-old son in his arms. The child had been stabbed and critically injured.

Major Crimes Cmdr. Richard Ford said police officers at the station were able to begin treating the boy immediately.

“The actions of the father probably saved the child’s life (by) bringing him to the station rather than calling someone to respond,” Ford said.

Police tended to the toddler, and the father told officers his other children were still in the home.

Police went to the home and found a 7-year-old boy who’d also been stabbed in the neck.

Both boys were taken to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in critical condition. They were upgraded to stable but critical later Friday.

Police wrote in the criminal complaint against Jefferson that they found blood on the bedroom floor along with a knife.

Just after 7 a.m., Jefferson called 911 and said she wanted to turn herself in, according to the complaint. Police found her on Centre Avenue and took her to police headquarters on the North Side. Investigators noted in the complaint she had blood on her hands and her white dress.

Jefferson told police she’d taken a kitchen knife into the bedroom and began cutting the neck of the 3-year-old boy, then did the same to the 7-year-old, according to the complaint.

She said the children’s father came into the room, and they struggled over the knife, police wrote. She said he got the knife away from her, grabbed the toddler’s body, and ran to the police station.

Jefferson said she left the house and walked toward Pride Street, calling several family members to say, “My boys are gone,” according to the complaint. Then she called police and told them where she was.

Jefferson was taken to the Allegheny County Jail where she was awaiting arraignment as of 7 p.m.

‘This is unacceptable’

The incident Friday closes off a week of violence in the city, with three fatal shootings over the course of two days.

• Devonte White, 29, was shot and killed Tuesday night in the city’s Brookline neighborhood.

• Less than 24 hours later, 23-year-old Micah Stoner was killed in a shooting on Kingsboro Street near the border of Mt. Washington and Allentown.

• Three hours later, Dayvon Vickers, 15, was shot as he rode his bike on Frankstown Avenue in Homewood.

Police Chief Scott Schubert said the recent violence has him “profoundly troubled.”

“In a matter of five days, there have been three shootings that have taken the lives of three young people, aggravated assaults, multiple shots fired, and now, two children — two young boys — have suffered critical stabbing injuries.”

He said blaming the uptick in violence over the past several years on the pandemic is oversimplifying the problem.

“This is unacceptable in Pittsburgh. This is not reflective of the city we know and love,” he said. “People are clearly hurting.”

• Beyond the fatal shootings, this week also saw a carjacking Thursday morning in Downtown Pittsburgh.

• Later in the afternoon, a man was shot in the city’s Arlington neighborhood.

Mayor Ed Gainey addressed the violence in a statement Thursday. He said he has launched a critical incident review “to get a deeper understanding as to the root cause of the violence (Wednesday) night.”

He said in order for peace to prevail in Pittsburgh, there must also be justice.

“We are facing a pandemic of gun violence in our city,” he said, “and we need a public health response.”