In the wake of a violent incident at Pittsburgh's Carrick High School, the mother of the teen accused of stabbing three fellow students is speaking out, insisting that her son was acting in self-defense. According to WTAE, Sasha Taulton stated her son had been bullied and received threats in a social media group chat, which she reported to the school security the morning of the incident. She claims that her son brought the knife, not to initiate violence, but to deter a potential assault from his tormentors.
The security measures at Carrick High School have come under scrutiny as the teen was able to surreptitiously bring a kitchen knife onto school premises. The weapon was wrapped in a hat and placed in the adolescent's book bag, which was checked by security, but the knife went undetected. Police say this oversight allowed the teen to later brandish the knife during a confrontation — a move his mother contends was a bid to simply protect himself. "He wasn’t trying to hurt nobody. That’s all he keeps saying. He was trying to defend himself," Taulton told WPXI.
Sasha Taulton also expressed deep regret for not keeping her son at home on the day of the stabbings. With evident pain, she recounted her efforts to reassure her son and to ask the school security to watch out for him due to the threatening messages he received. In a statement reported by WTAE, she admitted to hugging her son tightly and apologizing for not fully listening to his fears. "He was scared," she said.
Within twenty minutes of arriving at school, Anthony Taulton was allegedly confronted by the students he had feared, leading to the altercation that resulted in three students being stabbed, one critically injured. Taulton was charged as an adult with aggravated assault, among other charges, and is currently being held in Allegheny County Jail without bond.
