Four Teenagers Are Stabbed After Northeast Peace Festival

Four teenagers, all female, were stabbed in a Northeast Washington neighborhood yesterday shortly after the close of activities there promoting "Peace in the Streets."

The teenagers, who range in age from 15 to 18, suffered wounds that were not believed life-threatening. The incident occurred about 7 p.m. near Nannie Helen Burroughs and Division avenues NE, according to police and fire department officials.

There was no indication of what prompted the stabbings and no report of arrests.

The Rev. Stephen E. Young Sr., of the Holy Christian House of Praise in the 5100 block of Burroughs, said thousands of people attended the church's annual peace festival. According to church materials, it promotes ways of addressing homicide and other violence.

"My heart is very much saddened" by the stabbings, Young said. They occurred about an hour after storms shut down the festival early, he said. Witness and police accounts indicated that the stabbings apparently occurred within two or three blocks of the festival.