Teen stabbed in head with scissors
A 15-year-old boy was repeatedly stabbed in the head by a seething, scissor-wielding classmate Tuesday over a basketball game at a New York high school, authorities and witnesses said.
The victim, Alfredo Allen, who attends the HS for Service & Learning at the former Erasmus High School site, was in critical condition and undergoing emergency surgery, officials said.
"When he fell, I saw the blood all over the floor. I thought he was dead," said shaken witness Kimberly Davis, 15.
Allen's crazed attacker, Chevoy Nelson, a 16-year-old student at The HS for Youth and Community Development, which is also housed on the site, plunged the sharp cutting tool into his skull and neck between four and seven times around 12:30 p.m. as shocked students looked on in horror, school officials and witnesses said.
Allen was rushed to Kings County Hospital while Nelson was arrested, police said. Charges are pending.
A fight had broken out as the two teens were shooting hoops during lunchtime in a gym shared by the separate high schools, students said.
The attacker allegedly shoved the victim, and the victim retaliated by punching him in the face, student witnesses told the New York Post.
The attacker walked off the court but "came back with scissors," said Maurice Warner, 16.
Last year at both schools, roughly one-third of students reported that they didn't feel safe in common areas such as hallways, bathrooms or locker rooms.
Nearly a quarter of the kids at both schools said they felt unsafe in their classrooms, according to surveys conducted by the Department of Education.
It's a far cry from the glory days of Erasmus Hall High School, which was founded as a private academy in 1786 by Sen. John Vanderbilt.
Notable alumni include crooner Neil Diamond, child chess prodigy Bobby Fischer, crime author Mickey Spillane and actress/songbird Barbara Streisand.