The Boone County Sheriff’s Department responded early Tuesday morning to a stabbing near Bethany and Bellview drives.

The victim, an 18-year-old man, told deputies that he was walking in the area when the assailant, who has yet to be found, appeared and stabbed him twice in the chest before fleeing, according to a department news release. The unnamed victim, the department wrote, is being treated at Boone Hospital Center for non-fatal injuries.

Those with any information on the incident can contact Crime Stoppers at (573) 875-TIPS. All calls are held confidential, and a cash reward can still be collected should a source not reveal his or her identity. The amount of that reward, a Crime Stoppers representative said, will be specified by a committee in the near future.

Yet while this assault was non-life threatening, it’s only one of 26 that have occurred in the past year along the southern stretch of Scott Boulevard. And apart from violent crime, that area has played host to instances of vandalism, along with numerous narcotics and weapons violations.

BCSD Detective Tom O’Sullivan chalked up the crime spike to symptoms of a bad area.

“I’ve been here at the sheriff’s department for 25 years,” O’Sullivan said, “That place has always been a hotspot for us.”

He noted that a combination of factors have contributed to the region’s trend in crime.

“It’s kind of a low-rent area,” O’Sullivan said. “There’s a lot of Section 8 (housing), and problem landlords who don’t screen their tenants.”