News Editor
On Mar. 1, Daniel Pulido, a 15 year old freshman at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa, CA, stabbed two classmates during a physical altercation, leading to the death of one student and serious injuries to the other. The incident transpired around 11 AM, when the two juniors entered an art classroom and got into a fight with Pulido. As the fight broke out, the teacher, along with the three teacher aides present, intervened, attempting to break up the altercation. Shortly thereafter Pulido withdrew a folding knife and stabbed the two juniors, according to the Santa Rosa Police Chief John Cregan.
One student sustained three wounds on his upper body, while the other had one stab wound on his left hand which the school nurse provided first responder care to before the boys were transported to the hospital. Once at the hospital one of the boys, Jayden Pienta, died, whereas doctors were able to treat the other and predicted he will make a full recovery. The attacker fled the scene and police later found him hiding in a creek behind a neighboring school. Although the incident is still under investigation, officers believe there is no evidence suggesting the two victims were armed during the altercation.
In the aftermath, students spoke out about their frustration with the school for not taking more preventative measures following previous issues between the three students. A senior at Montgomery High said, “It’s their job to keep us safe…It’s just disappointing. It really is.”
During the press conference Cregan mentioned the school’s need for a school resource officer to help prevent any future problems. He explained “As Chief, it’s something that I’ve advocated for us to return to, but we can’t do that without the support of your Santa Rosa school board….We work very closely with the school here and will be looking at how we can partner in some of the school safety to ensure that all students in Santa Rosa are able to come to school in a safe environment.”
Additionally Anna Trunnell, the Santa Rosa City Schools Superintendent addressed concerns about the district’s lack of metal detector security within schools. She detailed, “We do talk regularly to our students about safety and about caring for each other on campus. But we do not have anything that detects those kinds of weapons on campus right now…We are going to be assessing how we approach supporting our students and making sure that they know that this is a safe place, and we will be examining how exactly we are going to do that.”
Pienta’s family voiced their anger about the school’s lack of action. His grandmother explained, “They didn’t even call the parents today! Schoolkids called the parents today to let them know their son had just been stabbed. How is his mother going to get through this? How are we going to get through this.” Looking back, Pienta’s aunt describes him as “a good boy. A quiet and gentle boy. He did not harm anybody. This is so out of character for something like this to happen to him.”
(Sources: AP News, ABC News, USA Today)
Categories: Local News, News