Lindenhurst Middle School stabbing: Boy's condition improves, police say

The condition of the 13-year-old boy who was stabbed and critically wounded Monday by a fellow student in Lindenhurst Middle School has improved, authorities said Tuesday.

The boy, who was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital and underwent surgery Monday, was listed in stable condition Tuesday, police and school officials said. He had been in critical but stable condition Monday. 

In a letter to parents Tuesday afternoon, district Superintendent Anthony J. Davidson said the boy is expected to be released from care in the coming days.

The boy was stabbed in the upper leg and groin by a 12-year-old student with a 6-inch knife during an altercation Monday afternoon that triggered a 90-minute lockdown, police said.

The stabbing coincided with a slashing in Uniondale High school: A girl, 17, cut two other students with a box-cutter Monday, Nassau police said. Also Monday, three students, all 9 years old, and three adults at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, were killed in a shooting.

School officials in Lindenhurst said they believe the altercation was “an isolated incident.” Police did not say what led to the attack in the school hallway.

Marie Pardue, the mother of a seventh-grader at the middle school, said her daughter, 13, was "terrified" to return to school Tuesday.

“She was walking into math when this happened yesterday. The student that was stabbed was in her class," Pardue said outside school. "She was afraid to come to school today, but I assured her that it was safe [and] that it was an isolated incident."

Some parents kept their children home Tuesday.

Beth Sparacino said her eighth-grade daughter took a “mental health day.”

“She just needed a day to feel safe and just clear her mind,” Sparacino said, adding she plans to send her daughter back to school for the rest of the week. “I think her fear of going to school today is: Does anybody else have a knife on them?”

On Tuesday, school officials confiscated a small pocketknife found after a search of a student’s backpack, Davidson said. The search took place because another student reported a concern, he said.

Davidson reminded parents to clean out their children’s bags Tuesday evening to ease the arrival process Wednesday, when middle school staff will conduct random searches.

The 12-year-old suspect, who also was not identified, was charged with juvenile delinquency — the equivalent of adult charges of assault and criminal possession of a weapon, authorities said. He was arraigned Monday in Family Court and is due back before Judge Fernando Camacho on Friday, said Suffolk County spokeswoman Marykate Guilfoyle. 

A juvenile delinquent is a child over 7 but under 18 who commits an act that would be a crime if it had been committed by an adult, according to the New York State court system website.

Cases are handled in Family Court and the accused do not go to adult jails. Instead, the court decides if they need supervision, treatment or placement through the local department of social services or the state Office of Children and Family Services.

Family Court proceedings are confidential and, in some instances, cases can be sealed, the website said.

Davidson said Tuesday there was an increased security and police presence at the middle school. The school building security team was accompanied by the district’s school resource officers, who are members of the Suffolk County Police Department, he said. 

The school had its mental health staff in the middle school library Tuesday, and that will continue for the coming days, Davidson said. School counselors also visited social studies classes throughout the day.

Davidson noted that the Town of Babylon’s Youth Bureau is offering counseling services to students. Parents can call 631-422-7653 to make an appointment.

— With James Carbone

By Dandan Zou

dandan.zou@newsday.com@DandanZou

Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.