California high schooler fatally stabbed in classroom fight

SANTA ROSA, Calif. – A 16-year-old student involved in a fight at a Northern California high school was fatally stabbed Wednesday inside a classroom full of students, authorities said.

Another student also suffered a stab wound and the suspect, a 15-year-old freshman, is in custody, according to Santa Rosa police. All three students are male.

The two victims, both juniors at

Montgomery High School, walked into an art classroom around 11:15 a.m. and began fighting with the freshman, Santa Rosa Police Chief John Cregan said during a news conference. About 30 people were in the classroom.

Teachers initially broke up the fight but the freshman pulled out a folding knife and stabbed the juniors, the chief said.

The juniors went to the school nurse and both were conscious and alert when they were taken to the hospital, Cregan said. But one of the teens, who had three stab wounds to his upper body, died

there. Man paralyzed by officer who mistook gun for Taser sues

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Florida man left paralyzed when a police officer shot him after mistaking his handgun for his stun gun filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city, the officer and others, saying, “my life got destroyed.”

Michael Ortiz is seeking unspecified millions of dollars from the city of Hollywood, Florida, and Officer Henry Andrews, 50, who is also facing a misdemeanor charge for the 2021 shooting – one of several over the last 20 years where officers say they mistook their gun for their Taser. The federal civil rights lawsuit also names officers Dionte Roots and Jhonny Jimenez, who were subduing Ortiz when Andrews shot him.

Florida-based civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Ortiz along with attorney Hunter Shkolnik, said it’s an “injustice” that Andrews has been charged with only a misdemeanor.

“Michael Ortiz needed a helping hand and what he got was a bullet to the back,” Crump said. Crump represents many victims nationwide of alleged police misconduct, including the families of Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. “There should have been greater accountability for the officer.”

Hollywood officials declined comment. Attorney Jeremy Kroll, who represents Andrews in the misdemeanor culpable negligence case, said another lawyer will be hired to represent the officer in the lawsuit.