Student arrested in stabbing of teen girl on San Ysidro High campus, police say

San Ysidro High School was placed on lockdown Wednesday as police searched for a suspect who stabbed a teen girl in a classroom, the San Diego Police Department said.

After an hour-long lockdown and a campuswide search, police took another student into custody just before 11 a.m. at an administration building on the campus at 5353 Airway Road, police said.

The student, who is a juvenile and will not be identified, had a knife on him and had clothing “used in the incident,” police said.

The stabbing was reported just after 9 a.m. Police said a teen girl was stabbed “multiple times” inside a classroom by a male of unknown age who then took off, SDPD spokesperson Cesar Jimenez said.

“There were some cameras that caught him and we’re following those leads of where he went to right now,” Jimenez said just before a media briefing ended abruptly as police patrol vehicles swarmed an administration building on campus. Shortly thereafter, police said a person of interest was in custody.

The teen girl, around 15 or 16 years old, was taken to the hospital, where she remained at 11 a.m. accompanied by law enforcement officers and school representatives, Jimenez said. Officials said later in the day that she was expected to recover from her injuries.

One mother, who said her daughter is friends with the teen victim, said her girl was in the classroom when the victim was stabbed.

“She noticed that [he] had blood on his hand and everything, so that’s why everybody started screaming,” the mom whose daughter was friends with the victim told NBC 7.

While the Sweetwater Union High School District allow students to have phones, it requires them to be put away. Many of them used them to contact parents during the lockdown.

“She called me on the phone,” the friend’s mom said. “She couldn’t even talk. [I] was like, ‘What happened?’ “

Some witnesses told NBC 7 the stabbing occurred over a breakup, but police could not confirm those reports. They did say, however, that they were still looking into the motive behind the stabbing. What San Diego police could say was that they do not believe there was a threat to other students.

To parents, Jimenez said, “We understand your concern. We do believe this an isolated incident. There are no other students who have been hurt.”

Although classes resumed, many students went home, shaken up.

“I just wished this school had more security,” one student said.

The superintendent told NBC 7 that the district installed security cameras on campus last year and they do plan to review their security policies in the wake of the attack.