Classroom Fight in California Turns Fatal

16-year-old stabbed to death
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 2, 2023 12:00 AM CST
California 16-Year-Old Fatally Stabbed in Classroom Full of Kids
People gather outside the main office after students were released for the day following a fight at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, Calif., Wednesday, March 1, 2023.   (Beth Schlanker/The Press Democrat via AP)

A 16-year-old student involved in a fight at a Northern California high school was fatally stabbed Wednesday inside a classroom full of students, authorities said. Another student also suffered a stab wound and the suspect, a 15-year-old freshman, is in custody, according to Santa Rosa police. All three students are male, the AP reports. The two victims, both juniors at Montgomery High School, walked into an art classroom around 11:15am and began fighting with the freshman, Santa Rosa Police Chief John Cregan said during a news conference. About 30 people were in the classroom. Teachers initially broke up the fight but the freshman pulled out a folding knife and stabbed the juniors, the chief said.

The juniors went to the school nurse and both were conscious and alert when they were taken to the hospital, Cregan said. But one of the teens, who had three stab wounds to his upper body, died there. The other is expected to survive a stab wound to his left hand, the chief said. The juniors were not armed. The freshman fled and was later found hiding in a creek bed and taken into custody, Cregan said. Investigators are still looking for the folding knife. The three students appear to have known each other and had fought previously, but Cregan said it wasn’t immediately clear what prompted Wednesday’s fight.

(More California stories.)

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