15-year-old boy seriously injured in stabbing at New York high school

Police are investigating a stabbing that occurred on Monday at a high school in Buffalo, New York. The school has seen numerous violent incidents in recent years.

Authorities said a 15-year-old boy was stabbed three times by another student in the attack and suffered wounds to his neck, back and arm. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance while the school was on lockdown and is now in “critical but stable” condition, police said at a news conference.

Police said they arrested two people and recovered the knife used in the attack. Investigators are working with prosecutors to determine appropriate charges against the individuals, police said.

The fight occurred in a stairwell between classes and was recorded by the school's security camera system. The people involved fled to a classroom on the third floor while a security guard quickly took the victim to the infirmary. Police then arrested the suspects.

Investigators believe the incident was related to another stabbing that occurred earlier this summer involving the same people, and do not believe it was a random attack.

McKinley High School is located on Elmwood Avenue, not far from Buffalo State University, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, and the Richardson Olmsted Campus. There have been numerous violent incidents there in recent years.

In February 2022, a 14-year-old student was stabbed ten times – nine times in the chest and abdomen and once in the leg – and a security guard was shot in the leg after a fight broke out between several people at the high school. A 13-year-old student was also grazed in the side in the incident.

Joseph Marciniak, a history teacher at McKinley, told Scripps News Buffalo at the time that the school was “dangerous and bordering on child abuse” because of students' experiences at the school, especially since Marck Abraham became principal in 2017.

Several sources told Scripps News Buffalo that under Abraham's leadership, violence increased, bad behavior went unpunished and teachers were punished. In January 2018, the Buffalo Teachers Federation filed an unprecedented vote of no confidence in Abraham, but then-principal Dr. Kriner Cash stood by him.

In February 2019, a student attacked a McKinley teacher, leaving him with an inch-long wound. The teacher told Scripps News Buffalo anonymously that the district “ultimately sided with the student and decided I should be the one to be fired.” The district's legal counsel later told Scripps News Buffalo that the decision to transfer the teacher was made “to protect his own safety.”

Earlier this year, parents called on Buffalo schools to address violence at McKinley High School after several videos showed fights in the hallways. Principal Tonja Williams said in response that she had “no higher priority than safety for our students” and that staff and the community needed to work together to address the problems.

This story originally appeared on Scripps News Buffalo.