One student killed, one injured in stabbing at Santa Rosa school
One student was killed and another student injured Wednesday morning during a stabbing inside a classroom that prompted a lockdown at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, according to police.
Dispatchers notified authorities around 11:11 a.m. of the reported fight and while officers were responding a suspect fled the scene, Santa Rosa police updated via Facebook.
A 15-year-old student was arrested shortly after, hiding in a creek near the school, according to authorities.
According to police, the two victims who were stabbed — boys ages 16 and 17 — had gone into an art classroom to confront the 15-year-old boy and an altercation broke out. About 27 students were in the classroom at the time. One teacher and three teacher aides stopped the fight briefly, but the 15-year-old pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed the 16-year-old boy three times in the upper body and the 17-year-old boy in the left hand.
The two stabbed teens left the classroom and went to the school office to seek help from the campus nurse, police said.
The suspect fled to the creek that runs alongside the school, authorities confirmed, as officers and sheriff’s deputies in a Sonoma County Sheriff ’s Office helicopter searched for him. He was detained and arrested in the creek bed about 40 minutes after the stabbing.
The 16-year-old gravely injured student was conscious and talking when police arrived, authorities said. Police Chief John Cregan said officers and school staff took steps to compress his wounds. He was treated with a chest seal and then transported to the hospital around 11:30 a.m.
Senior Owen Seiberling told The Chronicle that he was with the 16-year-old victim at the school office — and he questioned the treatment he received while there.
“I had to pick him up; he was gushing blood,” Seiberling said. At one point, Seiberling said, he tried to apply pressure to his friend’s wounds.
Police said all three teens involved had prior altercations and knew one another. Detectives were still investigating what led to the fight and how long the conflict may have been brewing.
“We’re going to get to the bottom about what was the motive of this and what led up to this,” Cregan said.
An email sent by administrators to Montgomery High School parents said all school activities would be canceled for the remainder of the day and parents would be notified later today if the cancellations would remain for the rest of the week.
A reunification center has been set up at the Montgomery High School football field, according to school officials.
“Saddened to hear a student was killed and another was injured at Montgomery High School today,” Rep. Mike Thompson, who represents California’s Fourth Congressional District, said. “My thoughts are with the family and friends of the students, the entire Viking community, and our Santa Rosa schools in the wake of this attack.”
In June 2020, Santa Rosa City Schools trustees voted 7-0 to suspend their partnership with the Santa Rosa Police Department — a move that came amid protests sparked by the in-custody death of George Floyd, according to a report from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
The killing angered fellow students and parents, who grilled police at an afternoon news conference about why the school had seemed to allow a brewing conflict to fester.
“The school knew that these two have problems beforehand,” Harley Rodger, a 17-year-old senior told The Chronicle outside the school. “The school — it’s their job to keep us safe.”
Parents, neighbors, students and others gathered at the school to learn more about the violence. Parent Brittany Murray said she wanted to hear from police directly. “These poor kids have to come back to this school,” she said.
Police asked anyone with information about the people involved or cell phone video of the incident to contact investigators at (707) 528-5222.