RALEIGH, N.C. — One student was fatally stabbed and a second injured after a fight turned deadly at Southeast Raleigh High School on Monday morning.
The stabbing incident, which was captured on video, occurred in the gym, officials said. A school resource officer radioed for help around 11 a.m.
One juvenile suspect is in custody, Police Chief Estella Patterson said Monday afternoon. She could not confirm if that juvenile attends the school and did not say if there are additional suspects.
The name of the student who died has not been released.
The second student remains hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, Patterson said.
“I want to share my condolences,” Wake County Superintendent Robert Taylor said during a news conference with Patterson. “As a parent, I can’t imagine getting that call. I just cannot imagine that.”
“I offer my prayers to those affected,” he continued. “However, most importantly, I pledge my resolve; schools should be a safe haven for students and staff. In the aftermath of today’s tragedy, we will review all of our safety processes and protocols.”
In a message posted on the school’s website, Southeast Raleigh said a Code Red lockdown was in effect while law enforcement investigated. Both the Raleigh Police Department and the high school urged people to stay away from the school on Rock Quarry Road.
In a Code Red lockdown, the entire building is locked. No one may enter or leave until police issue an all-clear announcement.
Southeast Raleigh dismissed at its regular time Monday.
After-school activities were canceled.
Nikki Pendleton was among dozens of parents waiting in a parking lot for students to be dismissed Monday afternoon
She said a video of the stabbing posted online was gruesome and that she was going to give her 17-year-old son a big hug as soon as they were reunited.
“He’s hanging in there as much as he can,” Pendleton said in an interview. “It’s very hard. When you send your children to school you want them to go learn. You don’t want things like this to happen.”
“But there are lots of families that are going to be going through this for a while,” she said.
Larry Cozart also planned to give his child a big hug. Cozart said he’ll try to get his 16-year-old daughter into another school next school year.
“It’s the craziest thing I have ever heard in my life,” Cozart said in an interview. “It’s got so that you can’t send your child to school, and it’s really, really sad.”
Cozart said he couldn’t believe a student had died at school.
“Things are changing,” Cozart said. “When we went to school, there was nothing happening like that. But these parents ain’t got control of their kids.”
Threats have plagued schools across the nation.
Recently, a minor from Louisiana was arrested on charges of phoning in hoax bomb threats that led to two separate evacuations of Heritage High School in Wake Forest.
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