Three Carrick High School students were stabbed Wednesday morning — two of them in the abdomen — by another student just inside the building’s front doors, Pittsburgh police said.
One victim was in critical condition, another was in stable, according to Cara Cruz, a Pittsburgh police spokeswoman.
A third victim had a “minor laceration” and was treated at the scene and released, police said.
Police have a suspect in custody. That person has been taken to police headquarters on the North Side for questioning.
All four students are boys between 15 and 18, according to Cruz.
Pittsburgh Public Schools said a student “used a small knife to injure three other students. All students are receiving medical attention.”
The stabbing occurred around 8:30 a.m. at 125 Parkfield St. in the city’s Carrick neighborhood.
The suspect’s hand was cut, and he was treated by medics, according to Cruz.
The school was put in lockdown, and police, fire and EMS are on the scene.
“At this time, the school is keeping classes on but parents have the option to come pick their students up at any time,” Cruz said.
Shortly before 11 a.m., a few dozen students streamed from the school to be met by relatives.
Mark Sheehan, 16, said he was in gym class when an announcement over the school intercom said the school was “on hold.”
He then found out there was a stabbing and saw a video of the fight that led to the stabbing circulating among students.
Mark said he reached out to his dad and said he wanted to go home.
“It was just nuts in there,” Mark told TribLive. “People were just annoyed. They were all just scared.”
Mark said there are metal detectors and security guards at the school. He has “not a clue” how a knife got in the building.
He said students hunkered down in the gym until the lockdown was lifted.
A volunteer with the South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace, a grassroots anti-violence group that was formed in the wake of the 2005 shooting death of a Carrick High School student, was at the school.
“Right now, they’re cleaning up. There’s a blood spill and they don’t want the kids to see that,” said the volunteer, who declined to give his name.
Tess Boscia said her son, a 17-year-old senior, texted her, saying two kids were stabbed. He told his mother he was OK.
Boscia said she immediately drove to the high school, where a police officer told her no students were able to leave the building.
She was waiting outside for her son.
“I would feel so helpless if I was at home,” Boscia said in an interview. “And I don’t want him here for the rest of the day. Now you have to fear retaliation with these kids, too.”
Boscia said she had not heard anything yet from school officials.
Last week, she said, her son was dismissed from school about 40 minutes late after a violent incident between two students led to a threat at the school.
“It is truly sick,” she said of the violence.
Neither Cruz nor Pittsburgh Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Brookline, whose district includes the high school, could confirm any violent incident from last week.
Melissa Seddon of the city’s Arlington section waited with a group of parents at the corner of Parkfield and Westmont Avenue.
Her 15-year-old son, Dominic, is a sophomore in his first year at Carrick after transferring from Central Catholic.
“My son came from a private school. This didn’t happen there,” Seddon said.
Dominic is youngest of 3 children
“My stomach hurts. It’s terrible, the knot in my stomach,” she said.
Seddon said Dominic, the youngest of her three children, texted her at 8:41 a.m. -
“He said “Someone got stabbed,’ and my heart just dropped. It’s rough because this is my baby.”
Coghill said he was briefed about the incident by the city’s public safety director and acting police chief.
“From what I understand there was a fight amongst students. I believe it was a three-against-one situation, and the one who was I guess being ganged up on had a knife or grabbed a knife. I’m not exactly sure where the knife came from.”
That student then stabbed the three others involved in the skirmish, Coghill said, adding that the alleged attacker is in custody.
“There’s no danger to anybody out there,” the councilman said.
Coghill said he wants to investigate security at the school and be more involved in ensuring schools are safe.
“There’s been issues up there before,” Coghill said. “Of all places your children need to feel safe, it’s school.”
Isabella Gaito, 21, of Carrick, said her 15-year-old sister, Lily, is a sophomore at the high school.
“She’s completely terrified,” Gaito said. “She wasn’t stabbed, that’s what I can be thankful for, and that’s sad.”
Gaito said Lily was being kept in her classroom but had no idea why. Gaito learned of the stabbing on the news and said she texted her sister to check on her safety and broke the news.
There are metal detectors at the front doors and in the cafeteria, Gaito said. She criticized safety at the school.
“I am very pissed off that the Pittsburgh Public Schools system has failed these children,” Gaito said. “Make sure the metal detectors work. Make sure the security guards work.”
Outside the school. Lily, weeping, fell into her sister’s arms.