Six members of same family stabbed in their sleep in Philadelphia

Three of the victims are in critical condition

Six members of the same family were stabbed in their sleep early on Friday morning in Philadelphia, according to police.

Officers were called to the Kensington neighbourhood just after 4am on Friday, on reports that six people had been stabbed on the second floor of a residential building there.

There, they found victims ranging from a 26-year-old stabbed in the chest and back, to a 57-year-old stabbed in the forehead, as well as two bloody, seven-inch knife blades.

“It’s a very violent scene,” Philadelphia Police Department chief inspector Scott Small told reporters. "One of the knives, that’s all metal, is broken, which goes to show how violently these individuals were being stabbed.”

One of the doors in the building was also knocked off its hinges.

The six victims were all rushed to the hospital, where three are in critical condition.

Family members were able to describe the suspect, a 29-year-old male relative, and police apprehended him a few blocks away, covered in blood with cuts on his hands.

The individual, who police have not yet named, was also taken to the hospital for treatment. Family members, including the stabbing victims, positively identified him as their assailant.

Officials have not yet commented at length on a motive, but believe the stabbings may have been an act of domestic violence.

Several young children witnessed the stabbings, but were not injured.