Grant High student arrested after teen is stabbed across the street from school
School police arrested a male 17-year-old Grant High School student Wednesday on suspicion of stabbing another student across the street from campus two days earlier, the head of the Los Angeles school police officers union said.
L.A. school district officials confirmed that the stabbing was under investigation and that an arrest had been made of “a male juvenile suspect ... in connection to a violent attack that occurred near Grant High School†on Monday.
Gil Gamez, president of the Los Angeles School Police Assn., said the stabbing occurred around dismissal time and was initially handled by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department. The victim, a 15-year-old boy, was stabbed in the chest and cut near the elbow. He remains hospitalized.
The case was turned over to school police on Tuesday night, Gamez said, and officers arrested the 17-year-old suspect on the campus, which is located in the Valley Glen neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley.
In recent times, Gamez, on behalf of his union, has tracked fights and possible crimes at campuses to provide, he said, an accurate picture of law-enforcement-related interventions on or near Los Angeles public schools.
On June 1, a Grant High student was injured by gunfire around dismissal time at the perimeter of the school and was hospitalized. The LAPD indicated that the shooting was “believed to be gang related.â€
“It’s a sad day when our children are exposed to community violence,†a district statement said at the time.
Regional Supt. Andrés Chait said Wednesday that the school provides a safe environment for students, including by working with law enforcement, while offering strong academic and extracurricular programs.
Chait added that the school also has programs to assist with social-emotional support for students and counselors to support mental-health needs.
Nina Buranasombati, a school police spokeswoman, said the department “is providing increased patrols in the neighborhood, especially during morning and afternoon safe-passage times.â€
The nation’s second-largest school system also is dealing with the aftermath of the on-campus death of a student at Bernstein High School in Hollywood from a drug overdose.
L.A. police investigators on Tuesday linked seven recent student overdoses — including the fatal incident — to pills that contain deadly fentanyl.
A district spokesperson highlighted a social media post emphasizing the district’s strengthened focus on “whole-child wellbeing,†especially in the wake of mental health “distress†that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
School police request anyone with information about the stabbing to call (213) 202-8621.
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