DELTONA, Fla. – The Volusia Sheriff’s Office is looking for two more teenagers accused of jumping and stabbing another 15-year-old in Deltona, leaving him severely injured.
In a release, deputies said that the fight was reported at 3:39 p.m. Wednesday near Courtland Boulevard and Hanford Drive.
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Sheriff Mike Chitwood explained that this event occurred just after students were dismissed from Heritage Middle School. He highlighted the use of a new technology called Live 9-1-1, which allows deputies to see emergency calls as they come in.
This technology helped a deputy reach the injured teen within two minutes of the call and start providing aid.
“This is eighth grade we’re talking about. We’re not talking about a bunch of drunken adults from a bar. These are eighth-graders,” Sheriff Chitwood said.
The injured teen was taken to the hospital, where he received staples and stitches to treat his multiple stab wounds, deputies reported.
The sheriff stated that the stabbing was a form of retaliation for a fight that had happened a few days earlier between one of the suspects and the victim.
“The guy who lost the fistfight rounds up his posse, and they decide to fight this kid after school yesterday, during which he is stabbed multiple times in his thigh and buttocks,” Sheriff Chitwood explained.
Detectives said they’ve begun interviewing “parties with knowledge of the incident” to identify the “multiple subjects” involved.
One of the three suspects has already been arrested and is confirmed to be a 13-year-old middle school student.
“There’s a family connection here, you’ll see when we make an arrest, and the parents had to know what was happening,” Chitwood added.
Deputies noted that the first suspect arrested in the stabbing isn’t the actual stabber, but he was instead arrested on a charge of principal to aggravated battery.
Meanwhile, all three suspects will face felony charges. The sheriff urged parents to be vigilant, noting that fights involving weapons are becoming more common outside of schools.
“If you sit down and go through the reports, you’ll see that they’re there. It’s great we’re doing all this target hardening in the schools, but my concern now is all of the after-school activities,” he said.