14-year-old accused of stabbing Countryside High students ‘idolized’ serial killers, had manifesto: Police
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Clearwater police are releasing more details about a stabbing that injured two students at Countryside High School Thursday morning.
Clearwater Police Chief Eric Gandy said during a Friday news conference that the suspect, a 14-year-old student, carried out an "intentional and targeted" attack when he stabbed two students in the concourse of the school. He said he does believe that if school resource officers hadn't intervened quickly, he would have injured more people in the school.
"It was anybody and everybody, as I said homicidal pick-them-at-random. Had we not intervened, he would have stabbed more people," said Chief Gandy.
According to the Clearwater police chief, the two victims were walking in the concourse of the school when the suspect stabbed them both. Investigators said the 14-year-old ninth grade student was stabbed in the neck and the 16-year-old 11th grade student was stabbed in the chest and abdomen.
Other students noticed what happened and a friend of the 11th grade victim briefly chased the suspect before noticing he had a knife. That's when, the friend approached the school resource officers on campus.
SKYFox aerial images of Countryside High School where two students were stabbed on Thursday.
A school resource officer chased down the suspect and eventually held him at gunpoint before taking him into custody, according to the police department. Other students and faculty stepped in to help the students who were injured before more first responders could arrive at the scene.
Both students were rushed to local hospitals. Chief Gandy said the ninth grader has since been released from the hospital and is recovering at home.
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The 16-year-old student did undergo surgery Thursday evening and was taken to the ICU, according to CPD officials. He is now in stable condition and expected to be taken out of the ICU.
"The victims went to school yesterday to learn, to be with friends, and they were violently and suddenly attacked by this individual," Chief Gandy said.
Chief Gandy said during the news conference that the 14-year-old suspect "idolized" serial killers and domestic terrorists and "hated humanity." According to authorities, the suspect had a handwritten manifesto and fixations on school shooters as well.
The student has been with Countryside High School since January and moved around a lot prior to starting at the school, police said. Officials said they are looking to see if there were any previous instances at his other schools.
"I think the criticism has come up before, ‘Why do we need cops in schools?’ This is exactly why we need cops in schools. We want them to be officer friendly until it's time for them to step up and do this," explained Gandy.
The student has been arrested on two attempted first-degree murder charges.