Editorials

BURLINGAME — The father of a 13-year-old boy believed to have been killed by his mother described his son as gentle, giving and intelligent. 

“He was a bright, mature kid,” Frank Burns told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis of his son Stephen Burns. “He was the kind of kid that if he had a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich and you didn’t have anything, he’d give you half. Then if someone else wanted some, he’d give half of that.” 

Stephen Burns was visiting his father in Burlingame last month when his mother, Donna Anderson, 48, allegedly stabbed him to death in the back of Frank Burns’ home. Anderson and Frank Burns are divorced. 

Stephen Burns was in seventh grade at Blake School and loved basketball. His hero was Kobe Bryant, a guard for the Los Angeles Lakers. Stephen Burns also played French horn and baseball. 

Police said that on Feb. 24, Frank Burns heard a scream and ran to the back of the house, where he reportedly found Anderson stabbing their son. Frank Burns, 53, was stabbed in the leg with a 7-inch kitchen knife as he tried to restrain Anderson, police said.