A boy is facing charges after he allegedly stabbed another student inside a Massachusetts school Monday morning before classes started.
The 13-year-old student stabbed a female classmate at Rockport Middle School around 7:30 a.m., reports CBS Local. Superintendent Robert Liebow issued a notice to parents stating the “serious physical assault” occurred in a hallway. Both students are in the seventh grade.
The Rockport Police Department school resource officer was in the building at the time and responded immediately. The girl was taken to Beverly Hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries. Sources told WCVB that the student brought the weapon, which was a steak knife, to school.
The campus, which houses both the middle school and high school, was placed on lockdown as police searched for the suspect who fled after the stabbing. He was apprehended a short time later after resident Nathaniel Mulcahy, who was in his backyard with his two young children, saw the suspect hiding in nearby woods and called police.
“(He) didn’t act like a neighbor because he didn’t wave and when he saw us he laid down in the mud,” Mulcahy said. “Why would you be knee-deep in a swamp just around 7 in the morning? Something wasn’t right.”
The lockdown was lifted at 9 a.m. and the school day continued with increased police presence. Parents were told they were allowed to pick up their children early.
“It’s very quiet and there’s a lot of teachers around the hallways, more than usual,” said student Madison Guernsey, who was picked up early by her mother. “So it’s a little strange seeing so many people in the hallway. But most of our classes are completely empty now. There’s almost no students left.”
The boy appeared in Salem Juvenile Court on Monday afternoon to face charges. No additional information has been released due to his age.
