A parent was severely injured Thursday morning after being stabbed multiple times outside a Fort Worth elementary school following a 5th-grade graduation, school and police officials say.
Fort Worth police said they were called to a stabbing at South Hills Elementary School on 3009 Bilglade Road at about 11:30 a.m., where two parents had been arguing.
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WATCH HERE“The ceremony ended … and we had went to the back, the hallway that’s right there,” said Janelle Bello, who attended her younger brother’s 5th-grade graduation with their mom. “They had cut cake for the kids. So, they were giving kids cake, and everybody was taking pictures with the teachers.”
Bello and other witnesses said a verbal argument between the parents initially began inside the school.
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SIGN UP “We just overheard that the two guys were going to fight with each other,” Bello said. "The staff there kind of separated them."
However, once outside, the two men began arguing again.
Buddy Calzada, public information officer for the Fort Worth Police Department, said Thursday afternoon that when the men started arguing, staffers began moving children back inside the school as others intervened to stop the fight.
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"When the verbal altercation stopped the first time, we believe that individual went toward his vehicle and grabbed a weapon," Calzada said.
Calzada confirmed that the suspect stabbed the victim multiple times in the back of the neck. Witnesses said the victim's daughter watched as her dad was attacked.
“She was just crying for help. She was like,’ Somebody please help my dad! He’s getting stabbed.’ I just felt bad for the little girl. She didn't know what to do either,” Bello said.
Calzada said the injured person was taken to a hospital with injuries that were severe but were not believed to be life-threatening.
Police officials said the two parents involved in the incident are believed to have had verbal altercations in the past, but that investigators did not yet know what the men were arguing about after the graduation.
"It's disgusting for somebody, adults, who are supposed to be the leaders, who are supposed to be the ones that give kids examples, are giving them horrible examples," Calzada said. "You don't solve any kind of situation or disturbance like this, not just on school grounds, in general. That's what's taken place here today and that's why this suspect is in custody and going to jail."
Bello told NBC 5 the victim had been stabbed with the cake knife. She said the man then left the school but was stopped nearby by parents who held him at gunpoint. Calzada said investigators hadn't confirmed those details and believed instead that the man grabbed a knife from his vehicle. Calzada said a witness in a car spotted the man in a nearby neighborhood and called police, and that he wasn't sure if any other parents had been involved in the man's capture.
Fort Worth police blocked off an area outside the school in a parking lot along Cockrell Avenue. What appeared to be a blood-stained shirt was seen on the ground. Calzada said the knife used in the attack was located by police.
Calzada said the suspect, who has not been publicly identified, is being charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Police said those charges could change as the investigation continues.
Fort Worth ISD says no students, staff harmed and they'll offer counseling for witnesses
The Fort Worth ISD said no students or staff were physically harmed. The district said students were immediately brought inside the building, and the campus was placed on hold out of an abundance of caution. The hold has since been lifted.
"During this time, no one was allowed to enter or exit the building, and everyone remained in their designated secure areas until the situation was resolved," the district said.
Witnesses and police said the children, their families and staffers were all outside as part of a graduation celebration and that many of them witnessed the violence.
"I can guarantee you that some of the kids probably saw what happened," Calzada said.
The school district said it would provide mental health counseling for witnesses to the stabbing.
The Fort Worth ISD said they "maintain a zero-tolerance policy for violence on our campuses and will pursue the full extent of the law to ensure consequences are enforced."
