Teen stabbed to death at East L.A. middle school

Homicide detectives are investigating the stabbing death of a teenage boy at an East L.A. middle school.

The stabbing occurred about 3:10 p.m. Friday, officials said. The victim was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

A Los Angeles Unified School District spokesman told KTLA that the incident occurred at David Wark Griffith Middle School.

Lt. Holly Francisco of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said that the victim was a 14-year-old boy who attended Garfield High School. The teen had been sitting in a semi-open corridor of the middle school when the suspect, another male juvenile, approached him and stabbed him with an unknown object.

The suspect was last seen on foot, heading south along Fetterly Avenue, Francisco said.

The victim was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Francisco said. No weapon has been recovered, she added.

“The investigators are just doing interviews now, but we don’t have any indication that there was a fight prior to the stabbing,” Francisco said. “It appears to be an isolated incident.”

Shortly after 7 p.m., Monterey Park resident Edith Torres was still waiting outside the school to pick up her daughter. Torres said that her nephew, who attends eighth grade at the school, told her that he had heard someone shout, “Somebody got stabbed!” about 3 p.m. The boy saw the victim, severely injured, trying to climb up the stairs.

Several parents whose children were in after-school programs were also waiting outside the school, said Torres, whose daughter is in the seventh grade and attends the after-school cheer program.

Torres, who had been waiting outside the school for several hours, said her daughter had just called from inside the school to tell her not to worry. But the wait was nerve-wracking, she said.

“You never know, you’re thinking that your kids are safe and the last thing that you expect is for this to happen,” Torres said.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.

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