Teen stabbed: Attacked at Brampton school,
One hospitalized, three arrested after Brampton high school fight
Afake $10 bill and a two-week feud set off a fight inside a Brampton high school that sent one teen to the hospital with stab wounds and put three others in police custody.
Several students outside St. Roch Catholic Secondary School on Tuesday afternoon who witnessed the lunch-hour fight and knew those involved said the beef started after one student paid an older boy with a counterfeit $10 bill.
Peel police said one 17-year-old boy was sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Two other boys, aged 16 and 17, were arrested at the school. A third male student, who left the scene, was arrested later.
What the money was for, no one seemed to know, but those present say the student who handed over the fake bill was the one who allegedly did the stabbing.
“They decided to deal with it today, I guess,” said a Grade10 student who was in a second-floor hallway when the fight broke out on the main floor. “I’m shaken up. . . . I was worried it was going to happen soon.”
The feud started two weeks ago with the exchange of money, friends said. In the hallway, things escalated.
“It was kind of a dirty look that he gave the guy. He turned around and then he asked him what’s going on and why he’s looking at him like that,” said the Grade10 student, standing next to his mother in front of the school.
“They were going to go outside; they just fought inside instead.”
“They were throwing fists at each other. And then all of a sudden, he was bleeding a lot from his neck.” GRADE 9 STUDENT AT ST. ROCH CATHOLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL
He said a 16-year-old, also in Grade 10, pulled out a knife. The boy who was injured, in Grade 12, never fell to the ground and had to be held back by others as the fight continued.
“They were throwing fists at each other,” said one Grade 9 student who did not want to give her name. “And then all of a sudden, he was bleeding a lot from his neck.”
Teachers were quick to break up the fight, students said, and the injured boy was taken to the office before the ambulance arrived to take him to Brampton Civic Hospital.
The school was put in lockdown just as the first lunch break — reserved for Grade 10 students — was ending and a new one beginning. Students from all grades were pulled into the closest classrooms. Tactical teams went from room to room looking for the missing suspect, police said.
Students tweeted from the hourslong lockdown, commenting on the heavily armed officers “packin heat.”
Several neighbouring schools were also put in a state of hold-and-secure.
Police confirmed all of the boys involved are students at St. Roch. They cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. No charges had been announced by publishing time.
As a few students in athletic jackets milled about the front of the school shortly after 1:30 p.m., one boy was driven away in a cruiser — leaving from a garage-door entrance. A short time later, police forensic vehicles arrived at the two-storey building, where police tape roped off the main entrance from the sidewalk.
Mary Lou Kennedy was still trying to find her daughter, who attends the school, after the lockdown ended just
“I’m shocked, actually. I don’t know really what to think at this point.” MARY LOU KENNEDY PARENT OF STUDENTS AT ST. ROCH CATHOLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL
before 3 p.m. and students spilled out onto the sidewalk. Kennedy said her son texted her to let her know about the stabbing, but it took 20 minutes to learn her daughter was safe. “That was kind of a panic,” Kennedy said, after driving from work in downtown Toronto. “I’m shocked, actually. I don’t know really what to think at this point.” Peel police Const. Fiona Thivierge told reporters it was not immediately clear if the teen injured was directly involved in the fight. “We don’t know what precipitated the altercation,” she said. It’s not clear if a weapon was recovered at the school, nor was it confirmed where the victim was stabbed. Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board spokesperson Nancy Marshall said Tuesday’s stabbing was a “very rare” incident for them. At times police investigations in the area affect their schools, but rarely does any violence happen inside, she said. As students streamed towards home, some gravitated in groups towards TV cameras, as others rebuked their attempts for fleeting stardom. “This is a serious matter,” one girl could be heard saying, her voice rising. With files from Jodee Brown