Irvine teen arrested in stabbing of classmate during lunch

A 14-year-old Irvine youth was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of stabbing a classmate during lunch, police said.

About 12:30 p.m., a freshman boy was stabbed at Woodbridge High School, said Irvine Police Department spokeswoman Farrah Emami. He was found breathing and conscious, and was taken to a hospital with “a serious but non-life-threatening injury,” Emami said.

The suspected assailant was a fellow freshman boy who ran away from the school after the incident. Police found him at home and arrested him just after 1 p.m.

In an email to parents, Principal Christopher Krebs called the stabbing “very frightening and troubling.” Counselors, guidance assistants and psychologists are reaching out to offer support to students, Krebs said.

The stabbing was an isolated incident and appears to have stemmed from an argument earlier Wednesday over a cellphone, Emami said.

The stabbing took place during the school’s lunch hour, and school’s campus was not locked down, Emami said.

Police and school staff are investigating the incident and have recovered the knife used in the stabbing.

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