Manslaughter, not murder charge in school stab

A BISEXUAL Bronx teen, targeted by bullies until he exploded in rage, was indicted for manslaughter Tuesday in the grisly switchblade stabbing of a 15-year-old classmate.

Abel Cedeno, 18, was initially charged with murder in the gruesome Sept. 27 killing of 15-yearold Matthew McCree at the Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation.

The grand jury’s decision to go for a lesser charge was announced only hours after a contentious Bronx court hearing where the mothers of both victim and suspect defended their sons.

In an interview published in Gay City News, Cedeno claimed he was defending himself from repeated punches from McCree.

“I was trying to get him off me,” Cedeno said. “I was afraid for my life.”

Additional counts — including murder — remained possible against Cedeno as the panel continues its probe of the city’s first school killing since 1993.

Defense lawyers moved quickly to get Cedeno’s bail set at $500,000 on the lesser charge.

The suspect was jailed immediately after his arrest in the stabbing, which took place before a terrified history class filled with fellow students and a pair of teachers at the Bronx school.

Cops later said he had no history with the slain McCree.

Cedeno, for the second straight time, opted not to appear in a Bronx courtroom packed to the rafters with family and friends of the defendant and McCree. Some 20 court officers ringed the room to insure the volatile situation remained calm. Luz Cedeno, her eyes hidden by sunglasses, insisted her boy Abel was not guilty of murder when he plunged the blade into his classmate during a morning history class. “My son is innocent,” declared Cedeno, whose teen surrendered quietly after the killing that sent McCree’s friend, Ariane Laboy to the hospital with stab wounds. The bisexual Cedeno has maintained he was repeatedly abused by school bullies, with lawyers and family friends insisting he finally snapped after anti-gay slurs and other abuse from classmates.

But the mother of McCree was equally emphatic after arriving for the hearing in a blue shirt adorned with her child’s photo.

“Beloved Son” was written above the dates of his birth and death.

“My son was never a bully,” Louna Dennis said after the court session ended. “My son never had words with (Cedeno) in his life!”

Mayor de Blasio, speaking to the Daily News Editorial Board, said the city’s first in-school killing since February 1993 hit him and his wife, Chirlane McCray, hard.

“I was at the wake for this young man, and Chirlane and I were devastated looking at this young man full of promise just lying there,” de Blasio said.