i'm in orlando right now and seen this shit on the news
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Slaying tightens school's security
Cops to be at University High today after student is stabbed
Henry Pierson Curtis | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted October 20, 2006
Grief counselors and Orange County deputies are expected to turn out in force this morning at University High School in northeast Orange to reassure students and parents in the wake of a sophomore's death after he was stabbed on campus Thursday.
The stabbing of Michael Nieves during a fight over a girl prompted school administrators and Sheriff Kevin Beary to criticize state legislators for failing to classify "common" pocketknives as concealed weapons.
"The bottom line is we have a 15-year-old stabbed by a 17-year-old, who is now deceased at Florida Hospital East," Beary said, standing outside the high school. "I'm making an issue of it today."
The fight broke out about 2:15 p.m. while hundreds of students waited to board buses for home. Tension between Michael and Kelvin DeLaCruz had been festering for weeks but flared during Thursday's lunch hour, according to deputies and students.
DeLaCruz was charged with first-degree murder Thursday evening. He is being held without bail at the county jail.
Violence in the county's schools increased 550 percent from 2002 through 2005, the last year for which data are available, according to the state Department of Education. The most recent campus killing locally also happened at University High in 1998.
"We talk all the time, but nobody listens to us about violent video games where they're stabbing and shooting each other," Beary said. "We're living in a culture of violence."
Crystal Rosario, 15, who ate lunch near the boys and later saw the fatal confrontation, said, "Everybody used to be friends until the girl got involved."
At the end of classes, Crystal and her friends headed for the bus loop on the east side of the campus on Eastwood Drive. No one suspected anything was about to happen, she said.
"It's where everybody chills," Crystal said. "For some reason, the deans weren't there today. It was, like, perfect timing."
Fight breaks out
Shouting and shoving signaled the start of the fight as students pressed closer to see what was happening. Punches were thrown, followed by blood and screaming, said Crystal and Glorivel Rodriguez, both juniors.
"I just seen the two boys fighting, then one of them got stabbed in the head and cheek and down here," said Glorivel, pointing toward her abdomen and right flank.
School-district spokesman Dylan Thomas said assistant principals, teachers and other adults were monitoring the bus loop when the fight erupted.
Students who were interviewed said classmates tried to save Michael by carrying him toward the closest building.
Paramedics from Orange County Fire Rescue tried to resuscitate Michael when his heart stopped before reaching Florida Hospital East. He was pronounced dead at 3:42 p.m., sheriff's spokesman Jim Solomons said.
In the panic and confusion, DeLaCruz fled, diving beneath a nearby bus, and ran to a two-story classroom building by the bus loop, deputies said.
Administrators and deputies assigned to the high school enacted a disaster plan and immediately locked down the campus, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.
"We had lots of help from students," Beary said, describing how tips from classmates helped deputies find DeLaCruz hiding in a second-floor classroom where he had tried to change clothes.
A folding knife with a 3-inch, serrated blade -- thought to be the murder weapon -- was found inside the building, Beary said.
Principal David Christiansen was boarding a plane to Chicago to run in that city's weekend marathon when he looked up at a monitor and saw CNN reporting the stabbing on his school's campus.
He left Orlando International Airport and returned immediately to University High.
Slaying ties record
Michael's death -- during America's Safe Schools Week -- was the 49th murder this year in unincorporated Orange County. It tied the record set last year, according to homicide investigators.
Following school shootings in Colorado and Pennsylvania, Michael's stabbing was the 15th school-related violent death since the start of the school year, said Kenneth S. Trump, a school-security expert based in Cleveland.
School killings have jumped because national interest in violence prevention has waned, Trump said. School-safety funding cuts since 9-11 have reached a point at which a typical fast-food restaurant has tougher safety procedures than most schools, he said.
"They're better at protecting hamburgers than we are with our teachers and our kids," Trump said.
Orange County Schools Superintendent Ron Blocker arrived on the campus of 3,600 students about an hour after the killing.
Metal detectors unlikely
He ruled out the need for metal detectors, saying the schools already take extensive safety measures, such as searches by K-9 teams and enforcing zero-tolerance weapons policies.
"I feel that that's the best you can do at this time," Blocker said.
The lockdown Thursday lasted about 90 minutes, forcing parents who regularly pick up their children after school to wait in their cars and minivans on Eastwood Drive.
None of the parents said their children expressed fear about going to school. Newsweek magazine ranked University as one of the top 200 high schools in the country last year.
When the lockdown ended shortly after 3:30 p.m., students did not know Michael had died. Streaming through gates in the fence around the 95-acre campus, the teens' faces ranged from jovial to somber to tear-streaked.
Besides calling in grief counselors, Blocker postponed a football game tonight between University and Edgewater highs at the University campus. The game will be rescheduled.
In a taped phone message Thursday to University High parents, Principal Christiansen offered reassurance:
"In times of tragedy, it's important that we come together to support each other. Tomorrow will be a challenging time for all of us, but trust that exceptional support will be here for our students, faculty and staff."
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wtf..... all i have to say about all this is let me see a photo of this jailbait broad... if some teenager had to stab someone in front of a thousand kids, then she better at least look good
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-----
Slaying tightens school's security
Cops to be at University High today after student is stabbed
Henry Pierson Curtis | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted October 20, 2006
Grief counselors and Orange County deputies are expected to turn out in force this morning at University High School in northeast Orange to reassure students and parents in the wake of a sophomore's death after he was stabbed on campus Thursday.
The stabbing of Michael Nieves during a fight over a girl prompted school administrators and Sheriff Kevin Beary to criticize state legislators for failing to classify "common" pocketknives as concealed weapons.
"The bottom line is we have a 15-year-old stabbed by a 17-year-old, who is now deceased at Florida Hospital East," Beary said, standing outside the high school. "I'm making an issue of it today."
The fight broke out about 2:15 p.m. while hundreds of students waited to board buses for home. Tension between Michael and Kelvin DeLaCruz had been festering for weeks but flared during Thursday's lunch hour, according to deputies and students.
DeLaCruz was charged with first-degree murder Thursday evening. He is being held without bail at the county jail.
Violence in the county's schools increased 550 percent from 2002 through 2005, the last year for which data are available, according to the state Department of Education. The most recent campus killing locally also happened at University High in 1998.
"We talk all the time, but nobody listens to us about violent video games where they're stabbing and shooting each other," Beary said. "We're living in a culture of violence."
Crystal Rosario, 15, who ate lunch near the boys and later saw the fatal confrontation, said, "Everybody used to be friends until the girl got involved."
At the end of classes, Crystal and her friends headed for the bus loop on the east side of the campus on Eastwood Drive. No one suspected anything was about to happen, she said.
"It's where everybody chills," Crystal said. "For some reason, the deans weren't there today. It was, like, perfect timing."
Fight breaks out
Shouting and shoving signaled the start of the fight as students pressed closer to see what was happening. Punches were thrown, followed by blood and screaming, said Crystal and Glorivel Rodriguez, both juniors.
"I just seen the two boys fighting, then one of them got stabbed in the head and cheek and down here," said Glorivel, pointing toward her abdomen and right flank.
School-district spokesman Dylan Thomas said assistant principals, teachers and other adults were monitoring the bus loop when the fight erupted.
Students who were interviewed said classmates tried to save Michael by carrying him toward the closest building.
Paramedics from Orange County Fire Rescue tried to resuscitate Michael when his heart stopped before reaching Florida Hospital East. He was pronounced dead at 3:42 p.m., sheriff's spokesman Jim Solomons said.
In the panic and confusion, DeLaCruz fled, diving beneath a nearby bus, and ran to a two-story classroom building by the bus loop, deputies said.
Administrators and deputies assigned to the high school enacted a disaster plan and immediately locked down the campus, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.
"We had lots of help from students," Beary said, describing how tips from classmates helped deputies find DeLaCruz hiding in a second-floor classroom where he had tried to change clothes.
A folding knife with a 3-inch, serrated blade -- thought to be the murder weapon -- was found inside the building, Beary said.
Principal David Christiansen was boarding a plane to Chicago to run in that city's weekend marathon when he looked up at a monitor and saw CNN reporting the stabbing on his school's campus.
He left Orlando International Airport and returned immediately to University High.
Slaying ties record
Michael's death -- during America's Safe Schools Week -- was the 49th murder this year in unincorporated Orange County. It tied the record set last year, according to homicide investigators.
Following school shootings in Colorado and Pennsylvania, Michael's stabbing was the 15th school-related violent death since the start of the school year, said Kenneth S. Trump, a school-security expert based in Cleveland.
School killings have jumped because national interest in violence prevention has waned, Trump said. School-safety funding cuts since 9-11 have reached a point at which a typical fast-food restaurant has tougher safety procedures than most schools, he said.
"They're better at protecting hamburgers than we are with our teachers and our kids," Trump said.
Orange County Schools Superintendent Ron Blocker arrived on the campus of 3,600 students about an hour after the killing.
Metal detectors unlikely
He ruled out the need for metal detectors, saying the schools already take extensive safety measures, such as searches by K-9 teams and enforcing zero-tolerance weapons policies.
"I feel that that's the best you can do at this time," Blocker said.
The lockdown Thursday lasted about 90 minutes, forcing parents who regularly pick up their children after school to wait in their cars and minivans on Eastwood Drive.
None of the parents said their children expressed fear about going to school. Newsweek magazine ranked University as one of the top 200 high schools in the country last year.
When the lockdown ended shortly after 3:30 p.m., students did not know Michael had died. Streaming through gates in the fence around the 95-acre campus, the teens' faces ranged from jovial to somber to tear-streaked.
Besides calling in grief counselors, Blocker postponed a football game tonight between University and Edgewater highs at the University campus. The game will be rescheduled.
In a taped phone message Thursday to University High parents, Principal Christiansen offered reassurance:
"In times of tragedy, it's important that we come together to support each other. Tomorrow will be a challenging time for all of us, but trust that exceptional support will be here for our students, faculty and staff."
----
wtf..... all i have to say about all this is let me see a photo of this jailbait broad... if some teenager had to stab someone in front of a thousand kids, then she better at least look good
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