Student killed in crowded Miami-area high school courtyard | McClatchy Washington Bureau

MIAMI — A stabbing on the grounds of Coral Gables Senior High School Tuesday morning left one 17-year-old student dead, another in custody and panicked parents trying to contact their children in the wake of the violent incident.

Miami-Dade police identified the stabbing victim as Juan Carlos Rivera, 17. They did not release the name of another student who was being questioned by detectives.

The stabbing occurred about 9 a.m. after an "altercation'' between the two boys as students shuttled between first and second period, said school Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.

It "escalated into a fight. One student produced a weapon and assaulted another,'' he said about the incident on the campus at 450 Bird Rd.

Police were "able to detain an individual immediately following the incident,'' said Detective Alvaro Zabaleta, a Miami-Dade police spokesman.

"This will be a very lengthy and detailed investigation,'' Zabaleta said.

One eyewitness told The Miami Herald that the victim was knifed at least three times -- possibly with a box cutter -- before crumbling to the ground in the school's courtyard area.

Felix Cedeño, a sophomore, said he saw two boys pushing each other outside of the gym and then saw one boy pull out what appeared to be a boxcutter and attack the other, Felix said.

"He stabbed him, three times,'' Felix said. "Once in the chest, once by the collarbone and once by the kidney.''

The boy with the knife then took off running, Felix said.

Felix, who didn't know either of the boys, ran to help the teen on the ground as a crowd of students gathered around them.

"He didn't say anything,'' Felix said of the victim. "He was gasping for air. He was clutching his chest, bleeding everywhere.''

Felix called 911 on his cellphone and stayed with the boy until school security arrived to aid the victim.

"It was like watching a movie,'' Felix said, his eyes starting to well up. "It just keeps on replaying in my mind. He died right there.''

Bedlam erupted as news spread of the stabbing.

Luis Salas said he was walking to his second period class when he heard screams and a teen lying on the ground, bleeding.

"There was a lot of fright, you heard screams,'' said Salas, a 16-year-old senior.

He then ran with another student to get a security guard.

Read the full story at MiamiHerald.com.