'It's eerie;' Students return to Montgomery High after fatal classroom stabbing
SANTA ROSA -- Like her classmates, there was a numbness, an emptiness deep inside Grace Anderson as she return to classes Monday at Santa Rosa's Montgomery High.
She took part in a student walkout at 11:15 a.m. -- the exact time 16-year-old Jayden Pienta was fatally stabbed during a confrontation in an art classroom last week.
An argument ensued between three teens. Police said the teacher and three aids were able to briefly break up the fight, but the students began fighting again. The freshman brandished a knife and stabbed both 16-year-olds.
With grief counselors and police officers on campus, students were back on campus.
"Mostly it's eerie," Anderson told KPIX. "You walk through the halls and there is an empty feeling of just like this was someone last moment. Someone died here and that's terrifying. We have to walk around and be friendly with people and have a smile on your face like they didn't even exist."
Anderson and others have also demanded that the school and police do more to make them feel safe. Montgomery High currently doesn't have school resource officers, even though Santa Rosa Police Chief John Cregan says officers were called to the school 97 times over the last year.
Cregan said he "hand-picked" the three officers that were on campus Monday.
"Not only as your police chief but also as a father of children who go to school in Santa Rosa, I want to reassure the students, the families and the faculty that I and the entire Santa Rosa Police Department, the mayor and city council, and the city manager are committed to ensuring our Santa Rosa schools are safe," he said in his statement.
Cregan said the officers on campus will be there to be a "reassuring" presence on campus and will be available to talk to teachers, students and parents "to let them know they are safe."
The 15-year-old suspect in a fatal stabbing is facing two felony counts, prosecutors with the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office said Monday.
The charges against the freshman include voluntary manslaughter and bringing a knife onto school grounds, prosecutors said. He is being held at juvenile hall.
His next court date is Friday to hear arguments about his detention at juvenile hall.
He is not being charged as an adult following the passage of Senate Bill 1391, which precludes juveniles from being charged as adults for any offense.
The second victim in the stabbing recovered from his wounds. The freshman suspect in the stabbing will not face a jury in juvenile court.