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PROVO — Prosecutors say a 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing five people at Mountain View High School came to school that morning prepared to "murder people."
The teen was charged Tuesday in 4th District Juvenile Court with fives counts of attempted murder, a first-degree felony; failing to stop at the command of a law enforcer, a class A misdemeanor; and possession of a dangerous weapon with intent to assault, a class A misdemeanor.
The Utah County Attorney's Office could file a motion to attempt to have the boy tried as an adult.
Before school started on Nov. 15, the boy "prepared to come to school and murder people. Specifically, the minor collected and brought with himself to school a bo staff, knives and other tools to inflict physical violence against others," charging documents state.
When the teen got to school, he entered the boys' locker room "and began a rampage of assaults on people with the purpose of killing others," the charges state. All of the victims were boys.
Wearing a red shirt and glasses, the teen approached his first victim and "smashed him on the head with the bo staff from behind, which caused the bo staff to break," according to the charges.
The boy temporarily lost consciousness and suffered a concussion. He was eventually able to run out of the locker room. He suffered a large cut that later required staples at a local hospital, police said.
As the teen approached his second victim who "was caught off guard," the boy "stabbed him in his neck with a knife," the charges state, adding that the victim had a vein cut in his neck that required surgery to repair. He also suffered cuts on his hand when he tried to grab the knife from the boy.
"During this rampage of violence, (a third boy), who was not yet wearing a shirt, heard a stick hit the ground and was wondering what happened," according to the charges. He was then stabbed on the "right side of his back/neck/shoulder area, which stabbing hit his esophagus and cut a central nerve, which has resulted in disabled elbow and shoulder movement," prosecutors wrote.
That student was stabbed two more times even after falling to the ground, prompting him to "play dead as a method of survival," the charges state.
A fourth victim suffered a "deep neck puncture" that required surgery. A fifth boy saw the attacker standing over a wounded student and approached them in an effort to help. The attacker called the fifth victim by name and then allegedly stabbed him in the neck.
That victim then ran out of the locker room "and hid until he could be helped and treated with stitches."
The teen approached a potential sixth victim who escaped injury by slamming a door shut, the charges state. "The defendant then approached another person in a threatening manner but then went into a bathroom area," the court documents say.
A school resource officer then cornered the teen, who was still armed, and used a Taser in an attempt to stop him. The boy stabbed himself in the neck before being taken into custody.
Four victims were transported to Utah Valley Hospital — two in critical condition — and one was transferred to another hospital in fair condition. As of late last week, all but two of the boys had been released from the hospital. The boy accused of stabbing the others was treated at a hospital and was released that same day and booked into a juvenile detention center.
Part of the charging documents were redacted by the Utah County Attorney's Office. The charges do not offer a possible motive or whether the boy gave police a statement about his intentions.
The boy's parents released a statement apologizing for their son's actions, saying they are at a loss to explain why it happened. They also said the attack was not racially or ethnically motivated.
The stabbings were also not the result of the boy retaliating for being bullied, according to Orem Police Lt. Craig Martinez. He said the boys did not know his victims outside of knowing the one boy's name. He said it appeared they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The boy only recently started going to Mountain View High School. He had been home schooled prior to this school year.
