AUSTINTOWN Police were called to an Austintown apartment early Wednesday after a 10-year-old girl stabbed her 15-year-old sister with a knife during a fight.

Township police were called to a home on Compass West around 1:43 a.m. after a 911 call. A 40-year-old woman told officers her 10-year-old daughter had stabbed her 15-year-old daughter.

Officers found a teen with a minor cut, less than a half-inch long, on her upper back. The wound was not actively bleeding. Paramedics evaluated the injury.

According to the police report, the incident began over borrowed belongings. The younger girl stated that her sister became angry and accused her of stealing. The ten-year-old claimed the teen then choked her as the fight moved to the floor.

The older sister told police that the ten-year-old took some of her belongings, and the teen went into her sister’s room to get them back. The 15-year-old told police she used the retrieved items to block a hammer that her younger sister swung at her.

Pinning the younger girl to the ground, the teen then stood up, releasing the younger sibling. The police report said the younger girl ran downstairs and returned with a knife, allegedly threatening to stab and kill her. When the teen said she tried to go downstairs to wake her sleeping mother, the ten-year-old attacked her from behind with the knife.

The mother told police that both children had been diagnosed with Autism and frequently argue over belongings. She stated she does not believe the younger girl poses a risk to anyone in the home.

Police collected the knife as evidence. Photographs of the injury were also taken.

Due to the nature of the alleged offenses, which include attempted assault, domestic violence, strangulation, and felonious assault, the case will be forwarded to Mahoning County Children Services and the Mahoning County Juvenile Court. A police detective noted that mental and behavioral health assessments and treatment for both children would be helpful, though the mother declined to have either child transported at the time of the incident.