One of the six attackers who stabbed three teenagers at a Long Island park Monday afternoon might have been as young as 7 years old, a law enforcement source told NBC 4 New York.
The child was among the suspected gang members, some of whom might have also been Hempstead High School students, who attacked the teens with a machete and knife at Hempstead Lake State Park on Monday afternoon, officials said.
A group of teens who were attacked were walking on a trail alongside softball and lacrosse fields at Hempstead Lake State Park when they were set on by the suspects, thought to be members of the violent MS-13 street gang, according to sources.
Three teens were stabbed multiple times; one victim was critically injured. School officials said that at least one of the teens was a Hempstead High School student.
The suspects fled afterward, and there haven't been any reports of arrests.
The Hempstead Union Free School District said Tuesday it was ramping up security at the high school after the attack.
"As a precaution, the school district has indefinitely beefed up its security presence in and around the high school and is offering special guidance and grief counseling to students who may have known any of the victims," the district said in a statement.
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The suspects fled the area. There weren't any reports of arrests.
The park frequently hosts recreational youth leagues, and one softball coach arrived Monday to find the area swarmed by police.
But NBC 4 New York learned Tuesday that there were no state parks police at the park at the time of the attack. The department's police union said that officers had been diverted to Jones Beach for an incident there.
"We have warned the state about under-staffing for many years," the union said in a statement. "If the 2 officers had been at Hempstead state park this would likely not have happened."
A spokesman for New York State Parks said state park police are investigating the stabbings, with help from state police and local police. He added that state park police have increased patrols at Hempstead Lake State Park.
