EVERETT, Wash. -- A young man was stabbed to death while trying to protect his girlfriend's mother during a domestic dispute between the woman and her boyfriend, CBS affiliate KIRO reported Tuesday.
Bobbie Dickerson said she believes Jamal Abdul-Malik, 22, saved her life and that of her daughter.
Dickerson told KIRO she got into an argument with her boyfriend, 40-year-old George Bell. She said it started about 1 a.m. Monday when Bell came home and she began questioning him about where he had been. The argument escalated and Bell lunged at her, Dickerson said.
Dickerson said she saw Bell swing a knife about seven times and that he stabbed Abdul-Malik at least once in the neck.
She says she then ran to a neighbor's home for help.
"I come running over there and I see [Abdul-Malik] on the couch, not moving," said neighbor Andrea Jourean.
Everett police said the suspect fled and a K-9 unit found him blocks away.
Bell has been booked into the Snohomish County Jail on a first-degree murder charge, police said.
"He needs to stay in jail and that's where I hope these guys put him is in jail for the rest of his life," said Dickerson of her boyfriend.
Dickerson sobbed as she told KIRO she can't understand how an argument turned fatal.
"It didn't have to end this way," she said. "It never had to end this way."
Bell has an extensive criminal record that includes drug and domestic violence charges as well as failing to register as a sex offender, KIRO said.
As for the victim, neighbors praised him for trying to help.
"He died a hero," said neighbor Andrew Weber.
"Jamal was a good person. He never wanted to hurt anybody ever," said Dickerson.
