Mother’s lawsuit over son’s fatal stabbing at KC middle school dismissed by judge
A Jackson County judge dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit against Kansas City Public Schools Tuesday, ruling that the school district was not culpable in the killing of a 14-year-old on school grounds in 2022.
Manuel “Manny” J. Guzman was fatally stabbed by a classmate in a bathroom at Northeast Middle School on April 12, 2022.
Police responded to the school at 4904 Independence Ave. in Kansas City’s South Indian Mound neighborhood around 9 a.m. that day in response to reports of a cutting. Guzman was pronounced dead at a local hospital around 8 p.m., while a fellow student was arrested the same day. The student was not identified because he was a juvenile.
The juvenile was initially charged with first-degree murder, as well as criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.
In April 2023 the then-15-year-old juvenile pleaded guilty to felony voluntary manslaughter. The original charges were dropped as part of his plea deal, and he was not charged as an adult.
After the teen was charged, Guzman’s mother, Vicenta Guzman, said that she was disappointed with the way the case had been prosecuted.
Vicenta Guzman filed her lawsuit against Kansas City Public Schools in October 2023, claiming that the district was negligent in allowing the murder weapon — a small knife — to be brought onto school grounds.
The lawsuit also referenced “obvious blind spots,” including “dangerously defective metal detectors” that school officials were allegedly aware of before Guzman was killed. Along with metal detectors, Northeast Middle School students were required to carry clear backpacks, which are subject to routine searches.
The school district first filed a motion requesting the lawsuit’s dismissal in January, according to court records.
Jackson County circuit Judge J. Dale Youngs ruled Wednesday that the suit should be dismissed with prejudice, indicating that Vicenta Guzman would be responsible for paying the associated court fees.
Guzman’s death drew widespread outrage and inspired multiple protests, including a walkout by his former classmates. Six friends and family members told The Star in 2022 that Guzman and the boy charged with killing him had clashed multiple times in the past, culminating in a widely viewed and publicized fistfight, purportedly won by Guzman.
Former KCPD Superintendent Mark Bedell said last year that the killing, which he described as “devastating,” prompted the school district to review its security policies.
Reporting by The Star’s Bill Lukitsch, Sarah Ritter and Aarón Torres was used in this article.
