Police: Watertown Juvenile Charged With Attempted Murder After Hatchet Attack

An absolutely horrifying attack in Watertown has left one local youth hospitalized with serious injuries and another juvenile, a 16-year-old male that was familiar to the victim, facing numerous serious charges, including attempted murder, assault, and home invasion.

According to the Watertown Police Department, at 4 PM yesterday afternoon (March 17), officers responded to a single family home on Morris Town Line Highway on a report of an armed home invasion.

According to police, the suspect, a 16-year-old male from Watertown, was armed with numerous weapons, including a hatchet and he had allegedly attacked a juvenile resident in their home. Police set up a perimeter, and started searching the area of Morris Town Line Highway and the intersection of Basset Road. Responding officers found that the victim had sustained serious injuries to their head, legs, and hands, consistent with those inflicted by an edged weapon.

Family members of the victim thankfully heard the assault happening, and rushed to the victim's aid, chasing the 16-year-old suspect out of the house as he fled through a second-story window to escape. While responding officers were in pursuit, investigators found out that the victim knew the suspect's identity and officers were able to contact the suspect via cellphone and convinced him to turn himself in. The victim sustained serious, but not life-threatening injuries.

Investigators found a hatchet, a large kitchen knife, a machete, duct tape and binoculars during their investigation.

The 16-year-old male from Watertown has been charged with:

• Criminal Attempt at Murder
• Home Invasion
• 1st Degree Assault
• 1st Degree Reckless Endangerment
• 1st Degree Stalking
• 1st Degree Risk of Injury to a Minor, and Burglary

The suspect has been detained and transferred to Juvenile Detention and will be arraigned in Torrington Superior Court, Juvenile Matters, today, 3-18-21.

Watertown police say that this was not a random home invasion or attack, and that the suspect targeted the juvenile specifically.