A violent hallway brawl turned into a bloody crime scene at a Virginia high school when a teenage boy was brutally stabbed by a fellow classmate.
Chaos broke out at West Potomac High School in Fairfax County on Wednesday morning when a fight between three students took a vicious turn, resulting in a 16-year-old boy being stabbed by a 15-year-old student.
The unidentified victim was rushed to the hospital for life-threatening injuries, leaving behind a gruesome trail of blood and stunned, shaken students in his wake.
The 16-year-old boy's condition has since been updated from critical to stable, with the Fairfax County Police Department confirming that he is now on the road to recovery.
'The good news is that the stabber, the perpetrator, the assailant, is in custody,' Police Chief Kevin Davis told reporters outside the high school.
'It's sad the stabber is 15, but we're working through the circumstances of his involvement and the involvement of others,' he added.
At around 9.40am Wednesday morning, students crowded closely together as a fight broke out between three teenage boys in the school hallway, with witnesses quickly pulling out their phones to record the rapidly escalating scene.
Disturbing video footage captured the moment the brawl erupted, beginning with a student in a red shirt relentlessly throwing punches a classmate in a black shirt as he crouched against the wall, desperately trying to shield himself from the blows.
A violent hallway brawl turned into a bloody crime scene at West Potomac High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Wednesday when a 16-year-old teenage boy was stabbed by a fellow classmate
Moments later, a third student in a white shirt steps in, seemingly trying to break up the fight as he was seen throwing punches at the red-shirted teen.
The high schooler in red immediately took off after his classmate in white, chasing him erratically through the hallway as the boy in black got off the floor and jumped back into the violent fray.
However, the typical teenage brawl turned almost deadly in a matter of seconds when one of the 15-year-old students pulled out a knife and stabbed the boy in the red shirt.
Harrowing videos and images taken by witnesses, now circulating across social media, showed both students and adults gathered around the teenager, who was profusely bleeding on the floor with his red shirt completely soaked through.
Other angles showed blood splattered across the floor as the teenage boy laid on his back, nearly motionless, with only the occasional twitch of his hand or a faint cough breaking his stillness.
In one clip, a teacher standing over the bloodied teen began screaming for someone to call an ambulance, while urgently demanding students to put their phones away and stop recording.
Fairfax County officers arrived to the high school within minutes, swiftly taking the unidentified 15-year-old suspect into custody on a charge of malicious wounding.
Police confirmed that the stabber and the victim knew each other, and that the knife used in the fight was ultimately recovered at the scene.
Police Chief Kevin Davis told reporters outside the high school that 'the stabber, the perpetrator, the assailant, is in custody', describing the attack as an 'isolated incident' (pictured: Davis)
Police confirmed that the stabber and the victim knew each other, and that the knife used in the fight was ultimately recovered at the scene
As for the third teenage boy involved in the fight, Chief Davis stated that investigators were in the process of questioning him, further emphasizing that the incident remains a 'very active' investigation.
'A third person who we are questioning, we are not describing him as a person in custody because, at the moment, we don't anticipate any criminal charges on this third person,' Davis said to reporters.
While Davis acknowledged the videos of the fight circulating on social media, he stressed that no other suspects are believed to be involved beyond the student already in custody, describing the attack as an 'isolated incident'.
'We have the video, just like you have the video, but the video doesn't tell the entire story,' Davis explained.
A swarm of police cars were seen outside the school's perimeter following the incident, including an ambulance parked outside the front entrance.
Fairfax County Public Schools announced that although the building wasn't on lockdown, no one was permitted to leave or enter the school until told otherwise.
'West Potomac High School is currently in a Stay Put, Stay Tuned safety protocol following an isolated incident at the school that has been contained,' the school's parent-teacher association said in a message to social media, NBC Washington reported.
'We will provide additional information in the next 30 minutes but there is no current threat to the school.'
Dozens of concerned and horrified parents shouted at Fairfax County Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid during a news conference shortly after the attack, demanding their children be allowed to leave the building (pictured: Reid during conference)
Parents began arriving at the school grounds almost immediately after news of the terrifying attack spread, only to be left outraged and frustrated over the district's response.
Dozens of concerned and horrified parents shouted at Fairfax County Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid during a news conference shortly after the attack, demanding their children be allowed to leave the building.
'Why can't I check my daughter out?' father Bill Beal sharply asked Reid. 'That's all I care about.'
In response, Reid explained that school security, in coordination with police officers, were actively working to secure the school before the safety protocol could be lifted and students released.
Reid also assured parents that the school was taking steps to ensure ensuring all four lunch periods proceeded 'in a calm, orderly and safe manner'.
'I don't care about lunch right now!' Beal can be heard screaming back in response.
Reid emphasized the importance of students utilizing the counselors made available to both the kids and staff following the attack, stressing that simply sending high schoolers home after such a traumatic event was not a smart decision.
'While there's a sense, obviously, of shock that this would happen at West Potomac High School, one of our high schools here in Fairfax County, I'm very proud of the response of our staff to this incident,' Reid said.
Other parents gathered outside and continued to voice their anger to reporters, questioning the effectiveness of the school's safety measures and expressing deep concern over whether their children are truly being protected while in class
'They responded quickly and admirably and may have saved a life today.'
However, other parents continued to voice their anger to reporters outside the school, questioning the effectiveness of the school's safety measures and expressing deep concern over whether their children are truly being protected while in class.
'Are they safe in school? They're not!' fuming mother Aellene Hernandez told NBC outside the school.
'And then I get this second video with the kid on the floor,' she added, angrily holding up footage of the attack playing on her phone.
'I'm mortified,' grandmother Cheryl Brewer told the outlet. 'I just need to see her and take her home.'
'At the end of the day, I think that's all these parents want, is to get their kids, hug their kids,' Beal told WTOP News, describing the school's communication as 'unsatisfactory'.
'There's more than one victim in this - people that witnessed it.'
Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell joined in the voices and reiterated the importance of safety in schools through a personal statement, according to WTOP.
As for the third teenage boy involved in the fight, Chief Davis stated that investigators were in the process of questioning him, further emphasizing that the incident remains a 'very active' investigation
Reid informed parents that the system was in the process of rolling out a pilot program dedicated to placing metal detectors inside the county's schools to ensure more secured safety for students
During the conference, Reid emphasized the importance of students utilizing the counselors made available to both the kids and staff following the attack, stressing that simply sending high schoolers home after such a traumatic event was not a smart decision
'This hit even closer to home for me as a West Potomac parent whose son was at school today as the incident occurred and whose three other children and two other siblings graduated from West Potomac,' he said.
'These students are so close to the end of the school year and for many, a graduation. This time for celebration is now marred by this ugly incident. These kids deserved so much better today.'
Later in the afternoon, parents were eventually allowed to check their children out of school a little bit earlier than their scheduled dismissal time.
Meanwhile, Reid informed parents that the system was in the process of rolling out a pilot program dedicated to placing metal detectors inside the county's schools.
The technology, she said, was placed at another school within the county that very morning, but it wasn't yet implemented at West Potomac.
'As all of our emotions are running high, we don't want to let the school spill out into this residential community and have skirmishes, fights, altercations and maybe even additional crimes take place,' Davis told parents and reporters gathered outside the school.
'All those considerations are something that we're thinking about, just like you're thinking about, and I'm sorry your children had to endure what they what they had to endure today.'
