‘I’m praying I don’t lose a daughter’: Mother of 9-year-old girl stabbed multiple times in St. Cloud home speaks out

SAINT CLOUD, Fla. — A 9-year-old girl is in stable condition at the hospital after a man stabbed her multiple times in her home near Georgia Avenue and Lakeshore Boulevard, St. Cloud police said.

The man, who was wanted by police, was killed Tuesday following an officer-involved shooting, police said. His identity hast not been released.

Watch: St. Cloud police update the media on the officer-involved shooting:

Veronika Snyder said she heard the cry for help from her daughter Jayda Lee around 1 p.m. Tuesday.

“I heard the door upstairs creaking so I walked up the stairs and that’s when I saw my daughter covered in blood, (so) covered in blood that I didn’t even recognize her,” Snyder said. “I’m praying I don’t lose a daughter. I want answers.”

Snyder rushed her daughter to the hospital. She could not stay at the hospital with Jayda due to COVID-19 regulations.

St. Cloud Police Chief Pete Gauntlett called the attack horrific and unacceptable.

He said two St. Cloud officers shot the man after they followed a trail of evidence from the home to where a confrontation with officers unfolded.

Police said they got two 911 calls Tuesday afternoon about a 9-year-old girl who was stabbed and a man running erratically through the neighborhood who also robbed an RV in the process.

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Officers said the man was covered in blood. When they confronted him near O.P. Johnson Park at 3rd Street and Georgia Avenue, they asked him to stop, but he did not, authorities said.

Gauntlett said that's when his officers opened fire.

Witnesses in the neighborhood reported hearing several gunshots.

Snyder said she’s hoping for this to be “a bad dream,” and is praying her daughter makes a full recovery and for police to conduct a through investigation.

“I want her back, I want her healthy. I don’t want her to look in the mirror,” she said.

Snyder said Jayda was talking and the surgeries have gone well, but they are concerned she may lose one of her eyes.

The area was shut down while officers investigated.

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