Yesterday, a 14-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly stabbing a fellow student 16 times at George Washington High School in Washington Heights. Now, it's suggested that the teen was getting back at the 15-year-old victim because the victim taunted him over his Mexican heritage. A student told the Post, "They made fun of his name and his culture. This is mostly a Dominican school."
The suspect used a steak knife and students watched the violence unfold in the hallway: One said, "I was walking through the hall, and I saw the [attacker] whip out a knife - medium-sized - and he started stabbing the other kid in the hip. Over and over," as another said, "It was crazy. I saw blood going down." The victim suffered non-life-threatening wounds to his arms, legs, and back.
Now there are concerns about the school's safety—a student worried, "There's metal detectors and everything, so how is he able to bring a knife to school? I mean it just scares me"—and anti-bullying measures. Councilwoman Ydanis Rodriguez said the stabbing was "unacceptable. Besides sending a young man to the hospital, the event has forced many questions to resurface and to ultimately wonder if our zero tolerance policies have run its course. Students need to be better protected against bullying tactics within the schools. I also believe parents need to understand why the metal detectors at the high school did not detect the weapon used in the incident," and called for an investigation.
