Rancho student stabbed in school cafeteria

Benjamin Grove

Friday, March 20, 1998 | 10:04 a.m.

A Rancho High School junior was hospitalized after another student allegedly stabbed him in the chest, abdomen and arm in the school cafeteria Thursday over a dispute about a girl, school officials said.

Officials would not release the name of either student. The wounded boy, who suffered several stab and puncture wounds, underwent surgery Thursday for a lacerated diaphragm and liver at University Medical Center, Clark County School District Police said. He was in fair condition today, a hospital spokeswoman said.

School police arrested the 17-year-old suspect, also a junior, on a charge of attempted murder, school district spokeswoman Betty Hollister said. He is being held in the Clark County Detention Center.

School officials called the stabbing an "isolated" incident that was not gang related.

"This was two students who last (Wednesday) night got into an argument away from school, and unfortunately they carried that anger back onto the school campus," Hollister said.

About 10 a.m., the two students re-ignited their argument, which started earlier in their neighborhood, during a nutrition break, allegedly over a girl, school police said. Three school staff members stood nearby during the scuffle and stabbing that lasted less than 15 seconds but had little time to react, Hollister said.

"It was that quick," she said. "The one student cut the other one and ran."

The boy stabbed the student several times and ran away on foot from the 1900 E. Owens Ave. campus, police said. School police officers caught the suspect within minutes about three blocks from the high school, Hollister said. The weapon was not recovered, she said.

Hollister said officials issued 17 suspensions at Rancho last school year for "violence against other students," which can include fighting. Out of all the district's schools, a total of 2,107 suspensions were issued last year for violence against students. Four Rancho students were suspended for weapons possession last year; 376 suspensions were issued district-wide for weapons.

Students being hospitalized with injuries inflicted with weapons at school are rare, officials said.

"I can't think of any other student being injured at the hands of another student (this year), excluding fist fights," said Assistant Superintendent Len Paul, who oversees high schools. "It's pretty infrequent."

(((TAGLINE: Cathy Scott contributed to this report.))))