RAMSEY COUNTY, Minn. — A 16-year-old Minneapolis boy is now charged with second-degree unintentional murder for his alleged role in the stabbing death of another student at St. Paul's Harding High School.
The juvenile petition, filed in Ramsey County, lays out the allegations against the teen, who KARE 11 is not naming because he is not charged as an adult.
Prosecutors say St. Paul police squads were dispatched to Harding just after 11:45 a.m. on Feb. 10 on reports of a student assault. When officers arrived they encountered lifesaving measures being performed on 15-year-old Devin Scott, who was in the midst of his first day attending school at Harding.
Scott was rushed to Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators spoke with Harding assistant principal Jayson Spence, who told them he was monitoring the halls between classes when he came upon two students fighting with another teen. The petition says Spence called for assistance, and once another staff member arrived the two intervened and pulled two students out of the fray. At that moment, Spence told investigators, the third student got up off the ground with a knife and swung it, stabbing Scott in the right side of his chest. He says the defendant then lunged at Scott again, stabbing him in the stomach.
Another Harding staff member told police of witnessing the fight, and seeing the defendant stab Devin Scott. He said he told Scott to go to the nurses office, but that the victim said he was dizzy and then collapsed.
The petition says the entire incident was also captured on surveillance cameras, showing Scott and the defendant starting to fight before the third student, referred to as MB, jumps in and begins helping Scott. After the two staffers pull Scott and MB away from the brawl, prosecutors say the defendant is captured on video advancing and using the knife to stab Scott.
Staff security then arrives on scene, detains the defendant and places him in handcuffs. The defendant was reportedly agitated, telling security the two other students "jumped me. "
Prosecutors say the 16-year-old defendant was taken to the office and searched, and security staff recovered a four-inch knife with blood on it. An autopsy on Devin Scott revealed multiple sharp-force injuries as his official cause of death.
"Too often our young people resort to force and violence to resolve conflict, resulting in tragic loss for everyone involved," commented Ramsey County Attorney John Choi after charges were filed. "We need to re-double our efforts to help youth, their families, and our community to address violence involving our young people."
Along with charges, the Ramsey County Attorney's Office filed a presumptive motion to have the juvenile defender certified to be prosecuted as an adult. A judge will rule on that motion at a future court hearing.
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