Weapons, including knives and pepper spray canisters, seized at Brooklyn high school

NEW YORK — A 15-year-old student has been charged with attempted murder for stabbing a classmate inside a Brooklyn high school a day ago, authorities said Wednesday.

The student, whose name has not been released, also faces charges of assault with intent to cause serious physical injury and criminal possession of a weapon for allegedly stabbing a classmate in the stomach around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in a hallway at Edward Murrow High School in Midwood. The victim is expected to survive.

The union that represents school security officers told our sister network NBC New York that the school does not have metal detectors, something many parents asked after the stabbing.

In response, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that “I believe in scanning to keep schools safe, but as you know, there is a balance. Because there are a large number of parents who reject scanning.” .

Adams added that police and education leaders were looking at which schools need non-intrusive scanners. The Department for Education says the decision is up to headteachers, who can choose for scanning to be carried out on a full-time, part-time or random basis.

“Someone who was 15 years old was stabbed. And this stabbing was preventable,” said Mona Davids, co-founder of the New York City School Safety Coalition, who would like to see more scanning in schools. “Refusing to listen to parents’ concerns over recent years when it comes to scanning has put us in the situation we find ourselves in today.”

Students at the school were scanned for weapons and contraband when they arrived for class Wednesday.

Some believe another part of the solution is more school safety officers, but as of Wednesday there were about 2,000 vacant positions. A new class of 140 security agents will begin before the end of 2023, but before starting to work they will have to complete 17 weeks of training.

Meanwhile, more than a dozen knives were recovered from the high school Tuesday afternoon during routine security raids following the incident, according to a school security source. They also confiscated: seven pepper sprays, two stun guns, a box cutter and possible illicit drugs, the source said.

No other students were injured in the attack, the motive for which remains unclear. Investigators are looking into whether Tuesday’s stabbing may have been gang-related.

The investigation is ongoing.