LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — A Lancaster County teenager will serve up to six years in prison after pleading guilty to stabbing his relative in the head as she was driving earlier this year.
D'Andre Jennings, of Fulton Township, entered a guilty plea on Nov. 4 to aggravated assault, possessing an instrument of crime, and recklessly endangering another person at a hearing before Lancaster County President Judge David Ashworth, who issued a sentence of 2.5 to six years in state prison.
The victim survived the incident, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office.
According to prosecutors, Jennings, 15, was seated in the back seat of the vehicle when, without reason, he struck the victim in the back of her head with a knife as she was driving along Susquehannock Drive in Martic Township around 6:45 a.m. Feb. 2.
The stabbing shocked the victim, who suddenly veered into oncoming traffic before she safely stopped the vehicle, according to prosecutors. The victim suffered a large laceration on the back side of her head as a result of the stabbing but ultimately survived.
Jennings told investigators he had fallen asleep and started to have a panic attack and “see red” before blacking out and awakening to the woman screaming and the knife in his hands.
Jennings said he had taken the knife from the driver’s side compartment of the vehicle the morning before leaving.
A witness called 911 after Jennings exited the vehicle and told her the woman had been stabbed.
Jennings threw the knife into a nearby wood line and attempted to flee on foot, but was arrested nearby by State Police with blood on his hands.
The victim told police she was driving when she suddenly felt an intense pressure in her head as Jennings attempted to push the knife farther into her. The woman further said she and Jennings were listening to music at the time and that she had no idea why he stabbed her.
Assistant District Attorney Janie Swinehart prosecuted the case. Trooper Todd Wagner of Pennsylvania State Police filed the charges.
