A routine morning at Fort Lee High School turned into a scene of chaos when a student was brutally stabbed in a school bathroom, prompting a lockdown and sending shockwaves through the quiet New Jersey suburb.
At 10:52 a.m.on Tuesday, April 8, local police received an emergency radio call requesting immediate assistance and a rapid dispatch.
After reporting on scene, officers quickly found a male juvenile who had been stabbed multiple times “in the neck, abdomen, back, and arm, causing serious injuries,” as stated in a press release from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. The victim was reportedly discovered just feet away from a bathroom, already suffering from significant blood loss. Witnesses claimed that he was seen earlier that morning with four other students who later cornered him inside of the bathroom—events that set the stage for the attack.
Similarly, Angel Serrano Lugo, a Fort Lee student, claims to have heard the victim’s desperate cries for help. “He said, ‘They stabbed me, please help me, help me,” Lugo described in an interview for Eyewitness News. “He was coughing, girls were crying, everybody was trying to help my friend.”
Emergency medical personnel responded swiftly, administering first aid on-site before transporting the victim to a nearby hospital. As of the latest reports from The Bergen Record, he is now considered in stable condition—a vast improvement from the critical state that medics initially declared him to be in.
Following his arrest, the prime suspect—a 16-year-old male student—was hastily removed from the scene. Within a day, the suspect was officially charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and unlawful possession of a weapon.
Though the motives of the accused have yet to be confirmed, reports suggest the attack may have been sparked by a prank that escalated beyond control. In the days leading up to the incident, both the suspect and the victim were reportedly involved in a prank war, which included pulling each other’s pants down, a situation that ultimately landed them in weekend detention. What began as a seemingly harmless exchange turned serious as tensions mounted, culminating in the violent encounter. This account is supported by Lugo’s interview, in which he stated, “What I heard was one of the kids pulled the other kid’s pants down and the kid got mad… and it led to an altercation in the bathroom, that’s what I heard from my friend.”
Parents were notified via the school district’s emergency alert system, and many gathered anxiously outside the school gates, awaiting news. The Fort Lee Police Department sought to reassure the community, quickly resorting to Facebook to post a statement regarding the event: “Out of an abundance of caution, there will be an extra police presence in and around the High School tomorrow; however, there is no further threat that we are aware of at this time.”
This incident has sparked renewed conversations about school safety, bullying, and the importance of early intervention. For many students at Fort Lee High School, the day marked a turning point—one where the illusion of safety was violently broken.
