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Upper Darby High School student arrested in hallway stabbing

The 14-year-old freshman was being held Tuesday at Delaware County's Juvenile Detention Center, facing charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threat, and possessing an instrument of a crime.

Upper Darby High School where student was stabbed today. Monday June 4, 2018 B STEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer
Upper Darby High School where student was stabbed today. Monday June 4, 2018 B STEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer Read moreSteven M. FALK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

An Upper Darby High School freshman has been charged in the Monday morning stabbing that sent a classmate to the hospital, Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said.

The 14-year-old was being held Tuesday at Delaware County's Juvenile Detention Center, facing charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threat, and possessing an instrument of a crime. Video cameras from inside the school show the student "lying in wait" for the victim, a 15-year-old freshman, in a rear hallway, authorities said Monday. The 14-year-old then stabbed the classmate in the back and cut him on his head, neck, arm, and hand, according to police.

Chitwood said the attack may have been caused by "an ongoing thing over a girl."

Officials will not be identifying either student because they are minors.

The victim was released from the hospital Monday evening, Chitwood said.

The alleged attacker insists he used a pencil in the stabbing, not a knife, Chitwood said. The boy told police he threw the pencil away near Landsdowne Avenue and State Road, down the road from the school, but Chitwood said investigators had not been able to locate one in that area. Police also had not recovered a weapon in the school, Chitwood said.

The victim's injuries, however, were not consistent with a pencil attack, Chitwood said.

"There was a tremendous amount of blood at the scene," Chitwood said. "I'm shocked he didn't bleed out."