An 8-year-old boy playing with other children in his front yard on the first sunny day of spring break was stabbed to death in what Alexandria police said was an unprovoked attack by a stranger.

Kevin Shifflett was playing in front of his great-grandmother's house in the 100 block of East Custis Avenue about 3:42 p.m. when the man walked up and stabbed the second-grader, [John] Crawford said. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

The boy's great-grandmother, who was stabbed in the hand when she came out of her house to help Kevin, was taken to Inova Alexandria Hospital. A half-dozen family members gathered just inside the emergency room while a steady stream of police officers and hospital chaplains went back and forth. The great-grandmother was released from the hospital last night.