Teen charged in stabbing, robbery

At 12-years-old, investigators say he was breaking into homes, by age 14 they're charging him with attempted murder.

Polk County Sheriff's Office detectives said Noel Cruz-Diego broke into a Lakeland man's home at the May Manor Mobile Home Park late Tuesday night and savagely stabbed the 55-year-old 30 times in the chest area.

The vicious attack woke up neighbor Marion DeLong.

"I heard screaming and I got out of bed went to my window trying to hear it better, and I could not make out any words and I saw a person near his door standing there with a hood over him," she said.

Detectives said Cruz-Diego got away with the Daniel Granton's wallet, but was eventually tracked down in a wooded area nearby.

Granton somehow made it across the street for help but collapsed before he made to his neighbor's front door, according to investigators.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Cruz-Diego has been in and out of the juvenile justice system for a series of burglaries, but nothing as violent as this.

"It's one of the most violent crimes there is, to stab somebody thirty times over and over and over in their own home," Judd said.

Granton was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, where he is in critical condition.

Cruz-Diego is expected to make his first appearance in a Polk County courtroom Thursday morning.

Those who live in this retirement community are hoping their neighbor survives the heinous attack, while the person responsible never gets the chance to hurt anyone else.