Cops say blood-licking is Chadds Ford stabber's bid to get street creds

Bobby Kahlbom is just a 16-year-old kid from the leafy burg of Chadds Ford, but he's trying to sharpen his image as a bloodthirsty psycho, police say.

The wannabe gangster is being held at the Delaware County prison on $1 million bail after he allegedly stabbed a teenager in a Bethel Township parking lot this month - then licked the victim's blood from his knife, according to witnesses.

"Apparently, he's part of this gang and he's just trying to be a badass," said Bethel Police Detective Robert Balchunis. "I guess they watch too much MTV or whatever."

Kahlbom, who is being charged as an adult, was arraigned Wednesday on charges of attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon and related offenses stemming from the Aug. 7 incident at the Maple Zone, on Conchester Highway.

His alleged victim was treated for stab wounds at Crozer-Chester Medical Center.

After stabbing the first kid in the parking lot, Kahlbom swung the knife at a second teen, but it only sliced his shirt, Balchunis said. Kahlbom then took one side of the blade and "licked the blood off the knife," Balchunis said.

The bandana-wearing braggart later told another teen that he'd stabbed someone, then warned the teen that he would kill him if he told anyone else, according to the criminal complaint. That threat resulted in a witness-intimidation charge.

Balchunis said the attack at the sports center appears to have been an act of retaliation from a prior incident.

Kahlbom's attorney, Michael Burns, declined to comment on the case in detail because he hadn't yet met with his client. But Burns questioned the reliability of the teenage witnesses.

Police think that Kahlbom's alleged knife-licking routine was an attempt to appear tough or dangerous, but his physique doesn't exactly fit the profile.

"He looks like a windstorm would push him down," Balchunis said.