Kansas City police identify student killed in middle school stabbing as 14-year-old boy
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Northeast Middle School stabbing
Kansas City police responded to a stabbing on Tuesday, April 12, 2022, at Northeast Middle School, 4904 Independence Ave. Arriving officers found 14-year-old Manuel J. Guzman with stab wounds in a bathroom. He was taken to a hospital where he died later that day. Another student was taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder in Jackson County Juvenile Court.
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Kansas City police have identified the victim who was stabbed Tuesday at Northeast Middle School as 14-year-old Manuel J. Guzman.
Another student has been charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon in Jackson County Juvenile Court, Capt. Leslie Foreman, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City Police Department, said in an email Wednesday.
Officers responded after 9 a.m. Tuesday to the school at 4904 Independence Avenue in the South Indian Mound neighborhood on reports of a stabbing. Arriving officers found Guzman inside a bathroom with stab wounds and immediately began rendering first aid along with school security. Emergency medical crews responded and took the student to Children’s Mercy with critical injuries.
The school went into lockdown and police shut down streets in the area immediately surrounding the school. Students were let out of class early and reunited with their families.
Police announced Tuesday night that Guzman had died from his injuries.
The school has an enrollment of about 675 students in grades seven and eight as of late November, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
School officials said Tuesday in a letter to families that classes would be in session at Northeast Middle School on Wednesday. Resources including mental health counseling were being made available. Additional security was being arranged as well.
“Please know that safety above all else will always be a focus of our administrative team, our Board of Directors and our entire staff,” Kansas City Public Schools Superintendent Mark Bedell said in a letter Tuesday evening. “We will continue to lead with a high degree of transparency as we strive to maintain safe learning environments for all of our students.”
In a statement Tuesday night, Mayor Quinton Lucas offered condolences to the family of the victim.
“I am very saddened to hear that the middle schooler stabbed today at school has died,” the mayor said. “Too many of children are struggling and we all have to do more to get them the help they need.”
This story was originally published April 13, 2022 at 12:55 PM.
