Another student remains in serious condition in hospital
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — An 11th grade Government High School (GHS) student was stabbed to death in a corridor of the school campus and another was injured following an altercation with two other two students during their lunch break.
Between 200 and 300 grade 11 students, staff and administrators, as well as security personnel, were on the campus at the time to facilitate the sitting of exams.
When Eyewitness News arrived on the scene, an ambulance on campus was pulling off with sirens blaring.
Scores of officers could be seen in the distance.
Students remained in their classrooms under lockdown.
Police Press Liaison Officer Assistant Superintendent Audley Peters told the media two male students had been in the corridor speaking during their lunch break when two other male students approached them.
He said an altercation ensued and the students produced “edged tools”, which led to the two students being stabbed.
He said police could not say if the victims were the aggressors in the incident.
When asked if police had arrested anyone, Peters explained that the two students scaled the fence of the school and fled “home, we believe”.
He said police learned who the students are and were following leads to bring them in.
It remains unclear what prompted the altercation.
Responding to questions about the motive and whether it was gang-related, Peters said he could not say.
“On arrival at the school, officers were directed toward a corridor, where they found two males lying on the ground.”
Tempers flared
Ahead of police addressing the media, anxious parents and guardians gathered outside the school’s gates.
Some pleaded with school personnel for information on the safety of their children, stressing that they learnt of the fatal stabbing via media coverage and had not heard from the school.
Others were insistent that their children be released immediately.
Tempers flared as school personnel assured that students were safe and would be released once police had completed their investigation.
One woman shouted that there was no way to know if her child was safe as she had not been contacted or informed by the school.
To this, school representative Mandel Miller indicated authorities had contacted the parents of the victims and advised them of the incident, and all other children were safe.
His assurances did little to calm the growing crowd of parents, who took exception to security allowing education officials, including Minister of Education Jeffrey Lloyd and Director of Education Marcellus Taylor, on campus before allowing them to see their children.
Communication “faux pas”
Speaking to Eyewitness News outside the school, Davina Smith, a concerned mother, said she got a message from her son, who was scared, asking her to please collect him.
However, she said following that message, she was unable to reach him, speculating that he did not have access to the school-provided tablet anymore.
“It’s not right for a mother to have to find this thing out just like that and nobody saying anything, and even after that, having to see it on the news that a stabbing — and a death at that — on the news on Facebook. No, man. It’s wrong. It’s wrong.”
Another woman, who said her younger cousin attends the school, also learned of the incident via Facebook and rushed to the school’s campus.
“I’ve been here since 1.50pm and all I asked security was: ‘Where is the administration?’” she said.
“Come and speak to the parents to know when the students will be coming out.”
Pointing to the more than a dozen parents and guardians, she continued: “These parents are frustrated. Some of these parents don’t even know if that’s [their child].”
Asked why authorities did not address anxious parents to allay their fears, Peters said the initial concern was for “the scene itself”, though he accepted it was a “faux pas on our part for not warning or saying something to the parents at the gate and I personally take responsibility for that”.
“However, we could not simply say something to them because everybody would want to know if that’s their child and I’m not here to say ‘this is your son’ and we have to wait for an identification of the next of kin.
“I could perhaps deal with it better on the next occasion, but on this occasion, I take full responsibility for not informing them of what was going on, on the inside.”
To calls for more police presence and additional security measures at schools, Peters said police presence on campuses was “somewhat situational” during the ongoing pandemic.
“We were not always aware as to when and how students were coming to school,” he said.
“And so, we’ll revisit our presence [on] schools given the incident at hand. We’re also aware exams were going on and during exams, limited persons were coming to school.
“And so, we would hasten to say that we cannot say that police were on the campus in this instance, but going forward we would have to revisit our decision with police being on campus.”
