Just after the fatal death of Valaree Schwab on Wednesday, January 10, another stabbing occurred in the New Rochelle area on Thursday, January 18. The suspect, who remains unknown to the public because of his age, has a history of violence in the school district and known behavioral problems; when he was 13 years old, he almost killed a fellow classmate by stabbing him during a playground basketball game.

The day before the incident, the suspect, described as a 15-year-old, 5-foot-7 male, was assaulted at Gemelli Pizzeria on 752 North Avenue, which is about half a mile away from the high school. The teenage perpetrators threw chairs and bottles at him as he defended himself with wine bottles.

The following day, the suspect stabbed a 16-year-old classmate in a second-floor classroom at New Rochelle High School around 8:50 AM. The suspect fled the scene while the victim was taken to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. Although the victim had a punctured left torso, the injuries were not life-threatening. The remaining students at the high school were put under lockdown immediately.

Although the suspect remained on the loose as of the weekend, students at New Rochelle High School still felt safe. “Security is pretty good. I don’t think it’s something they really could have prevented unless they saw it coming,” reflected New Rochelle High School student Jose Mendoza ’20. On the day after the stabbing incident, there was a notably increased police presence at New Rochelle High School. The officers strictly enforced access to the high school, especially during the busiest times of the day; students were not allowed to leave the high school during lunch.

Parents of New Rochelle High School students voiced their anger and fear over all the violent events at the school at a Board of Education meeting on Thursday night. The parents demanded change in the school system so that they would not have to worry about sending their children off to school each day. “The option is to stay and never leave and fight through it and figure it all out as a community,” commented parent Erica Christ in an interview with CBS2.