Teen stabbed in head and back at Verdugo Hills High, another in abdomen, source says

Two students were stabbed Monday at Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga.

Both students were hospitalized with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, and a suspect — another student — was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

The stabbings took place about 1:45 p.m., Los Angeles Police Department Public Information Officer Tony Im said.

Im said that as many as four people were involved in the attack against the two students and that they fled the area in an automobile after the violence. The officer confirmed that two students were transported to a hospital for treatment, although he had no information about their conditions.

Im said that the investigation was ongoing and that more information would be forthcoming.

According to a district source who requested anonymity, a 17-year-old suffered stab wounds or lacerations to the head, shoulder and back. The second student was injured after intervening to help the first and suffered a wound to the abdomen, the source said.

One of the attackers, possibly the one wielding the knife, is 14 years old, the source said.

Additional information came Tuesday from Gil Gamez, president of the union that represents officers in the L.A. School Police Department, an agency that is separate from the LAPD.

Gamez, in remarks to the Board of Education, said tagging at the school before the fight had indicated gang-related troubles.

“So there was literal writing on the wall saying that there’s a problem here,” Gamez said.

Gamez said the removal of officers from high schools has exacerbated risk and slowed response times.

Activists who pushed for the removal of police oppose such arguments, saying the presence of police diminish the education environment and provoke fear in students without enhancing safety.

Cellphone video aired by several television newscasts shows what is purportedly footage from the incident. It consists mostly of two students fighting each other.

The school district declined to confirm or deny information provided by sources outside of official school district channels.

Earlier in the school year, a shooting left a 17-year-old boy wounded just outside Granada Hills Charter High School, a public school that is within L.A. Unified territory but is not run by the district.

And, during the first week of school, a student was stabbed on the Franklin High School campus in Highland Park. The youths who were shot and stabbed required hospitalization, but their wounds were not life-threatening.

There also have been several incidents of loaded and unloaded guns being found in the possession of students.

At Verdugo Hills, the first notice to parents about Monday’s stabbing went out at 2:24 p.m.

“An incident is occurring on our campus that has required our school to go into a ‘lockdown’ at 2:08 p.m.,” the alert stated.

In a lockdown, all gates and doors in the school are locked, and students must remain in a secure and supervised space, such as a classroom.

The next notice was time-stamped at 3:07 p.m.

“Our school remains on lockdown at this time,” the update said. “We implemented lockdown procedures in response to an incident of violence among our students at 2:00 p.m. Students remain safe, and the parents of the students involved in the incident have been contacted.”

The school’s regular dismissal time is 3:36 p.m.

A third notice went out at 3:50 p.m.

“The lockdown of our campus has been lifted and our school remains open and safe for instruction.” The Los Angeles School Police have “indicated that police activity has concluded, and a suspect has been detained.”

The alert also included general information about the victims: “Two students were injured but promptly received medical attention by the responding officers and emergency medical personnel on-site. Subsequently, the victims were transported to a local hospital for further treatment.”

Per standard procedure, the district will deploy mental health workers to campus as well as extra neighborhood school police patrols and on-campus officers “for the remainder of the week,” the update stated.