FAIRFAX, Va. — A 16-year-old boy was stabbed at a Virginia high school Wednesday morning, Fairfax County Police said.
During a fight between three students, a 15-year-old stabbed a 16-year-old inside the West Potomac High School in Belle Haven at 9:40 a.m. Wednesday, police said. A student resource officer was on the scene within seconds, Police Chief Kevin Davis said.
Emergency medical services responded the school at 9:50 a.m. for a report of a stabbing. When they arrived, they found the teenager with multiple stab wounds. Authorities said his injuries were life threatening, but he was brought to a nearby hospital and his injuries have been downgraded to stable.
A spokesperson for Fairfax County Police confirmed a 15-year-old boy is in custody for the stabbing. The student is faces charges of malicious wounding. The third student involved is being interviewed, but police say they are not charging them at this time. No other suspects are outstanding, police said.
Superintendent Michelle Reid said students will not be released early. They are in a modified lunch program for the rest of the day, where staff are able to monitor them closely and students can have access to counseling services if they need.
At a press conference, parents questioned why they aren’t allowing parents to pick up students at this time. The school system sent out an email to families saying West Potomac is in a “Stay Put, Stay Tuned” safety protocol. Typically, in this protocol, parents and guardians are allowed to pick up their students with proper identification, but at this time, they are not releasing any students. Reid said they are not releasing children to parents until the crime scene has been cleared.
“Constant text messages from my daughter, ‘Get me out of here, I’m ready to go,'” said Bill Beal, the father of a high schooler who witnessed the stabbing. “This is more of a lockdown than a ‘stay put.’ We’re still denied, I still can’t go get my daughter, and at the end of the day, I think that’s all these parents want, is to get their kids, to hug their kids.”
Beal said the notification from the school system came 45 minutes after the incident, which he said was too late, and that they should have told parents that they would not be able to pick up their students as they typically would.
Multiple parents waiting at the school hoping to pick up their children said their students sent them graphic videos and pictures of the fight and stabbing.
“I get this second video, with the kid on the floor, sangrando [bleeding],” said Aellene Fernandez, a mother whose child also witnessed the stabbing.
Fernandez attended the press conference as well and said school administrators did not answer her questions. She also hasn’t been allowed to take her son out of the school.
“We got here and we get no answers,” she added. “This is just crazy. We get videos from the kids inside, there’s videos all over social media of what happened.”
In the email, Jamie Carfang, a school administrator, wrote that this is an isolated incident and has been contained. All students at the school are safe.
The high school is on a campus called West Potomac Academy that also includes an elementary school. All students have been returned to their base schools, she wrote, and there will be no afternoon shuttles Wednesday. She also asked that no one come to the school at this time.
West Potomac High School begins its school day at 8:10 a.m. The stabbing happened within the first two hours of the day.
This is a developing story. WUSA9 will continue to update this story as more information enters our newsroom.
