Student stabbed on campus at Franklin High during football game
A student from another school was stabbed Thursday afternoon at Franklin High School in Highland Park during a preseason football scrimmage, district sources close to the investigation told the L.A. Times.
The student’s injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. No arrests have been made.
The detailed account of the incident is based substantially on sources with knowledge of what happened who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on behalf of the district.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed Friday that it was alerted of the stabbing and had turned over the investigation to the Los Angeles School Police.
While the district did not comment on the accounts provided by sources, the district acknowledged to The Times that an incident had occurred at Franklin.
Two alerts were sent out to Franklin High parents and staff.
Thursday night, a message from the Franklin principal, provided to The Times by the district, stated, “I am calling you to notify you of a recent altercation that occurred this evening. Four unknown assailants were involved in an altercation with non-students during a Franklin High School scrimmage football game. School police and administration are investigating the incident.”
With campus fights and a fatal shooting of a student near campus in spotlight, an internal task force calls for L.A. schools to have a police option, which anti-police activists oppose.
An updated message Friday morning stated: “I am calling you to notify you of an update following yesterday’s altercation at a scrimmage football game at Franklin High School. We recently became aware that one of the individuals involved — a student at another school — was injured during the altercation. The student received medical attention.”
According to the sources, the stabbing occurred soon after school outside the Franklin campus gym. No school police or officers from other agencies were assigned to the game, the sources said.
One or more youths entered the Franklin campus, apparently targeting one or more students.
A fight erupted and was immediately spotted by a Franklin administrator who hurried over to intervene. Youths involved in the attack fled from the campus and escaped. The stabbing victim did not report the wound and the administrator did not know about it, but reported the fight internally, as required, and school police units were dispatched to Franklin.
Student cellphone use at L.A. public schools will be banned starting in January to improve learning, limit distractions and decrease cyberbullying.
The scrimmage was with a team from Roosevelt High, according to the district, although some sources identified the stabbing victim as from a school other than Franklin or Roosevelt.
The stabbing victim, an 11th-grade boy, left campus without interacting with authorities and was taken to a hospital emergency room by family. Hospital staff alerted the Los Angeles Police Department, who in turn communicated with the L.A. School Police, who handled the investigation at the scene.
L.A. Police Department Detective Meghan Aguilar confirmed that a local hospital contacted the department about a youth who had been stabbed Thursday afternoon at Franklin High. Had the injuries been life-threatening, LAPD would likely have continued to be involved in the investigation, Aguilar said.
Extra security was deployed to Franklin High on Friday.
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