A 17-year-old student was stabbed once in the buttocks near William H. Taft High School in the Bronx on Monday morning, police say, after three suspects approached him as he walked to school and one of them punched him in the face before another produced a knife. The attack happened around 9:30 a.m. on East 172nd Street near Sheridan Avenue, according to police, and all three suspects ran off afterward. The teen was rushed to an area hospital and is expected to survive.
The stabbing, reported by CBS New York, unfolded just outside the William H. Taft Educational Campus at 240 East 172nd Street, a co-located facility that houses six separate public secondary schools, including the Bronx High School for Medical Science, Claremont International High School, and the Bronx High School of Business, according to InsideSchools. The station's report did not identify the suspects. NYPD Crime Stoppers is asking anyone with information to call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), submit a tip through its website, or message @NYPDTips on X; the hotline is confidential and also operates a Spanish-language line at 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
A Campus With a Troubled Recent History
Monday's stabbing is the latest in a series of violent incidents tied to the Taft campus this year. On July 27, two school staff members were slashed just outside the same building, with one employee cut in the arm and another in the hand near Sheridan and Morris Avenues, according to CBS New York — an attack Hoodline covered in Teen Knife Suspect On The Run. In a separate incident, a student slashed a classmate in a hallway at Taft High School, and charges followed, as reported by the New York Post; the victim was transported to Harlem Hospital in stable condition.
The NYPD's 44th Precinct serves the southwest Bronx and covers 1.97 square miles, per the NYPD. The precinct's headquarters sits at 2 East 169th Street. Taft has also drawn national attention decades earlier: in May 1997, English teacher Jonathan Levin, the 31-year-old son of Time Warner chairman Gerald Levin, was tortured and killed in his apartment by former Taft student Corey Arthur, who was later convicted of second-degree murder, according to History.com.
Part of a Broader Pattern Across Bronx Schools
The Taft attacks are not isolated. Earlier this year, a March stabbing inside IS 218 in the Concourse neighborhood drew scrutiny. The broader safety discussion includes students' morning and afternoon travel corridors.
Student Safety Act data through the second quarter of 2023 has been discussed. Alternative discipline and de-escalation strategies are also part of the discussion, even as visible violence, like Monday's stabbing, continues to make headlines. The Taft campus's outdoor field has also drawn attention.
Citywide Safety Measures Continue to Expand
School safety remains part of the broader discussion. For now, the investigation into Monday's stabbing remains active, and this is a developing story.
