LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A 16-year-old student is facing fifteen charges after he brutally attacked a teacher over his grades, police said.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police were dispatched to Eldorado High School around 3:30 p.m. on April 7 for a report of an injured teacher, reports The Las Vegas Review-Journal. According to the arrest report, Jonathan Eluterio Martinez Garcia entered the teacher’s classroom to discuss his grades. He then repeatedly punched the teacher and choked her with a “rope or a string” before slamming her head against a table, knocking her unconscious.
Martinez Garcia then choked her unconscious a second time. When she came to, her pants and underwear were pulled down. The teen then poured something on her and said he wanted to “set something on fire,” the report said. He then moved a shelf on top of her and sat on it. The teacher said Martinez Garcia then tried to cut her wrist with scissors before answering a call from his mother.
“Can’t you just die already? Hurry up,” the teacher recalled the boy saying. When she asked Martinez Garcia why he was attacking her, the teacher said he responded that he “didn’t like teachers” and was “getting revenge.”
In an interview with detectives, Martinez Garcia initially said he “blacked out” and didn’t remember anything. He later said he remembered and that he tried to choke her with a computer cable and that he raped her.
“I don’t know why I attacked her, she was good to me,” he reportedly told police.
Another employee at the school found the injured teacher. She was transported to a nearby hospital where she was last listed as stable.
After the attack, Martinez Garcia took the teacher’s keys and left the school. He was arrested about a mile from the school and booked into the Clark County Detention Center. He has since been charged with four counts of attempted murder, seven counts of sex-crime-related battery, and counts of sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery and burglary. Martinez Garcia is being charged as an adult due to the severity of the alleged crimes, said Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson.
School Staff to Protest Teacher Protections
Hundreds of Clark County School District (CCSD) faculty and staff plan to protest outside the district’s administrative building to demand more protection for teachers, according to KTNV. Last month, CCSD Police Chief Henry Blackeye said there were 3,000 incidents, including assaults and fights, since the start of the school year, NBC News reports.
“We just want to make sure that people understand these are human beings and these are people’s lives. This young woman who was attacked, her life will never be the same,” said Vicki Kreidel, who has been teaching for over 20 years. “You can’t cross your fingers and hope for the best. What happened last week shows you that’s not going to work. They haven’t done enough. Whatever talks have happened is not enough. It is too late for committees. It is too late for town halls.”
Following Thursday’s attack, officials outlined a plan to increase security in the district. Beginning with Eldorado High School, CCDS plans to upgrade its camera systems and also add more cameras. Teachers will be equipped with location devices that allow them to call for help from police and administrators, and school police officers will receive additional support from local police departments to increase the presence of law enforcement at CCSD schools through the end of the school year.
Eldorado will have counseling services available after spring break when classes resume on April 19.
