A 17-year-old student is dead and three others injured after a stabbing in a Texas high school cafeteria Wednesday morning.
Joshua Broussard, a sophomore at Houston's Spring High School, was identified to KHOU by family as the sole fatality of the fight that broke out around 7:10 a.m.
Three students are currently in custody and a 16-year-old victim is hospitalized at Memorial Hermann Hospital after originally being listed in critical condition, said Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia at a press conference. The teen's pastor has since publicly said his condition is improving.
David J. Phillip/AP
A knife is collected for evidence outside Spring High School.
Two other victims transported by ambulance to Houston Northwest Medical Center are said to have sustained minor injuries.
Garcia described the altercation breaking out over a "confrontation of some sort" that ultimately led into a physical fight that produced "sharp" weapons of some kind.
"We have not recovered those weapons so we are still conducting that aspect of the investigation," he said while claiming that those currently in custody are the only persons of interest in the case.
Mayra Beltran/The Houston Chronicle/AP
Emergency personnel remove a person from inside Spring High School where at least one student has been reported dead and three others injured during a stabbing.
Reports of the fight having been gang related are being investigated by Garcia but believed by him to be unfounded.
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A mother of a student who allegedly witnessed the stabbing recounted to KHOU the terrifying phone call she received from her daughter telling her “they’re in here stabbing people.”
David J. Phillip/AP
Law enforcement officers gather outside Spring High School.
“She said the young man just collapsed," the mother said of her daughter’s chilling account that described the suspects as a group of five youths aged 16 to19, who were possibly part of a gang.
"It could have been my child because the stabbing was right there before her eyes," said the upset mother, who vowed to transfer her daughter to another school.
A photo tweeted by MyFoxHouston appears to show blood dripping in a hallway surrounded by sneakers walking by.
Mayra Beltran/The Houston Chronicle/Ap
A pair of women react after a stabbing during a fight involving multiple students inside Spring High School.
Another photo allegedly shared by a student from inside the school shows a chair and other small items propped up against a door.
Life flight called after student reportedly stabbed at Spring HS pic.twitter.com/8swfFuGOwj
— MyFoxHouston.com (@MyFoxHouston) September 4, 2013
KHOU11
An adult male suspect is seen walking into Spring High School in handcuffs where a stabbing took place earlier. The three suspects held in connection to the stabbing are said to all be students.
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This is a picture posted on Twitter of inside Spring HS after 1 person was stabbed. #HouNews pic.twitter.com/Tovu0HGpce
— MyFoxHouston.com (@MyFoxHouston) September 4, 2013
KTRK
Two others were seen handcuffed outside the school. It's not clear their relation to the stabbing.
Harris Co deps have 2 people in custody after stabbing at Spring High School @MyFoxHouston #fox26forlife #hounews pic.twitter.com/OGJvCbb12h
— Ford Atkinson (@FordFox26) September 4, 2013
Mayra Beltran/The Houston Chronicle/AP
Parents and family members pray near Spring High School.
News crews watching the chaotic scene from outside the school initially showed two male teenagers in handcuffs outside.
A few hours later a Hispanic adult man and a teen, suspected by local reporters as being one of the first two teens, were seen being escorted in handcuffs back into the school.
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David J. Phillip/AP
Parents, Eunice Pacheco, right, and LaKesia Brent, left, wait for news about their children outside Spring High School Wednesday.
The man's relationship to the suspects was not clear. All the youths involved in the stabbling were described by Garcia as students.
Outside the school terrified parents continued to gather waiting for any information on their children, who remained inside.Many had been called by the school district via an electronic message informing them of at least one fatality after a fight broke out.
"All other students are safe in their classrooms and will remain their while the investigation continues," the message said.
KTRK
Houston's Spring High School was placed on lockdown just after 7 a.m. Two people were seen arrested.
The updates didn't come until three hours after the incident occurred, angering many parents.
"We're not coming back, we're going to be home schooling," an upset mother of a 10th grader told KHOU from outside the school.
The mother, who claims other parents have expressed the same intention, says the stabbing is only speeding up a decision that was already had underway.
"There's been fights, there's been gangs, I hear all kind of things from my daughter about this school," the woman said.
Around 10 a.m. more than a dozen buses were seen arriving at the back of the school. The students were expected to still be held until after noon.
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