ONE student is dead and another has been injured after a stabbing occurred in a packed art class at a California high school.
A fight between students in a classroom led to the stabbing at Montgomery High School, Santa Rosa Police Department spokesperson Chris Mahurin said.
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The school, and other surrounding schools, were placed on lockdown at around 11am on Wednesday.
Cregan said that two male students, both 16-year-old juniors, entered an art class filled with 27 others and began fighting with a freshman.
The freshman produced a knife and stabbed the two students, Cregan said.
One student suffered three stab wounds in the upper torso while the other was stabbed in the hand.
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"The knife was described as a folding knife with a black handle that had a blade of approximately four to five inches," Cregan said during a press conference.
The two victims went to the school nurse for their injuries, authorities said.
Both were conscious and provided statements to the police before being taken to a hospital.
One victim later died of his injuries, police said.
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Family members have identified the boy as Jaden Pienta, according to local CBS affiliate KPIX.
"He was a good boy. A quiet and gentle boy. He did not harm anybody," Jaden's grandmother Cheryl told the outlet.
"This is so out of character for something like this to happen to him. I don't understand."
Police said the 15-year-old male student who fled the scene was later taken into custody off campus.
The identities of the other students have not been released.
Classes and after-school activities were canceled for the rest of the day.
The school will remain closed Thursday and Friday.
"We had 36 Santa Rosa officers respond to this incident and started combing the area," said Cregan.
"We had mutual aid assistance from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department and the Sonoma County's helicopter aided in our search."
Some students complained that school officials did not do enough to keep the campus safe.
"This school should be held accountable. A student had to call 911. Nobody else did. A student did; a kid," an unidentified student told KPIX.
"The school didn't do anything. The school knew these two had problems beforehand. the school.
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"It's their job to keep us safe."
"They didn't even call the parents today! School kids called the parents today to let them know their son had just been stabbed," Jaden's grandmother said.
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