Methuen High School student charged with attempted murder in stabbing

METHUEN, Mass. — A Methuen High School student will face attempted murder charges for a stabbing inside the school Monday.

“We were outside in the hallway about to start a project, and we saw the kids coming down the stairs and it was like a big group of kids,” said Jaetel Gomez, a senior at Methuen High.

He says he saw the aftermath of the stabbing inside the school.

“We were told to lock down and we couldn’t leave the classroom, and we actually didn’t even get to eat lunch,” said Gomez.

The school went into lockdown for an hour and a half. Then students were dismissed early to many parents worrying outside.

“It has to stop, I don’t know what’s going through these kids’ head, but it has to stop,” said Nilza Colon, a parent.

“It’s scary those are your babies, the schools are responsible for your kids you know and although they do a great job, stuff like this happens,” said Kristen Maxwell, a parent.

Police say a 15-year-old who used to go to the school snuck in through a side door when other students let him in. He then went to confront a 16-year-old student, who had a knife.

“This was an isolated situation that the two students involved knew each other,” said Dr. Brandi Kwong, superintendent of Methuen Public Schools.

Police say that current student stabbed the former student twice in the torso before going after another student. That’s when a teacher and student tackled the suspect to the ground until police came to arrest him.

“Obviously a dangerous situation, it’s not something that we typically encourage for bystanders to intervene in such a way, but I’ll say they both acted in a very courageous manner,” said Methuen Police Chief Scott McNamara. “And I think the city at large should be proud of the actions they took today.”

Police say the former student who was stabbed is in stable condition at the hospital.

Police and school leaders are now looking into whether to make security changes at the school to prevent this from happening again.

“Nobody wants to see weapons like that get into our school, so we’re going to be reviewing our policies, practices and see if there’s a way to do it better,” said Chief McNamara.

Police say the victim who was stabbed will be charged for trespassing into the school building, and the current student will face a judge Tuesday for assault and attempted murder charges.

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