By Susannah Cullinane and Holly Yan, CNN
BOISE, Idaho – Police say they know who stabbed nine people at an Idaho apartment complex that houses refugees — but the motive remains a mystery.
Suspect Timmy Kinner, 30, faces nine counts of aggravated battery and six counts of injury to a child for the Saturday night attack, Boise police said.
Four of the victims from are suffering life-threatening injuries, authorities said. And six of the nine victims are children.
“The suspect’s exact motives and reasons for attacking specific individuals is still under investigation,” police said Sunday.
Kinner is not a refugee and is from Los Angeles, police said. They said early evidence shows he was a temporary resident at the apartment complex until he was asked to leave on Friday.
The stabbing victims included members of Boise’s refugee community, Police Chief William Bones said. He said some of the injuries are “very, very serious.”
“As you can imagine, the witnesses in the apartment complex — along with the rest of our community — are reeling from this attack,” the police chief said.
“This incident is not a representation of our community, but a single evil individual who attacked people without provocation that we are aware of at this time.”
Victims were in parking lot and apartments
Police responded to a call of a man with a knife at 8:46 p.m. (10:46 p.m. ET) and arrived at the apartment complex four minutes later, Bones said.
“Officers located the suspect almost immediately, took the suspect into custody at gunpoint,” he said.
Police found the nine victims inside the apartments and in the complex’s parking lot.
“You can imagine this is a very tight-knit community here in this apartment complex,” Bones said Saturday night.
“The attack had a devastating effect on the people. We’re doing everything we can tonight to get them services, to get them through this evening, and we’ll be working with them in the days and weeks that follow.”
Bones said his department had never dealt with an attack of this magnitude.
“We haven’t had anything involving this amount of victims in a single attack in Boise in the history of the department,” he said. “Obviously, it’s something you hope never comes to your city.”