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Jayden Pienta: Santa Rosa school student, 16, fatally stabbed by 15-year-old boy in classroom fight

'He minded his own business, he was one of the sweetest, most lovable, kindest, cutest, most compassionate,' Jayden Pienta's aunt said

SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA: A physical fight with a freshman student at Montgomery High School on Wednesday, March 1, has left a 16-year-old student dead and one injured. The deceased, who was stabbed to death by a 4-to-5-inch blade with a black handle, has been identified as Jayden Pienta and the suspect, whose identity has not been revealed, is a 15-year-old juvenile, who was found hiding in a creek bed and later was taken into custody.

According to NBC Bay Area, the incident took place at 11.11 am. Santa Rosa police officers said two students, both juniors, walked into an art class filled with 27 others and confronted a freshman student. Following this, a fight broke out between the three and the freshman student pulled out a knife and stabbed the two students. One of them was stabbed three times in the upper body while the other was stabbed in the left hand, police said.

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What did Santa Rosa police say?

Santa Rosa police took to Twitter and updated, "No Active Threat to Students or Staff. This is an on-going investigation and more information will be released soon." Along with that, they linked a press release, which stated, "On March 1, 2023, at 11:11 am, the Santa Rosa Police Department’s Communication Center was notified about a fight on the Montgomery High School campus (1250 Hahman Drive, Santa Rosa). At least one student was injured. As numerous officers were responding, the suspect fled the school campus. There is no active threat to students or staff on campus. This incident is still under investigation and more will be released soon."

At a later press conference during afternoon hours, Police Chief John Cregan said both students were conscious when police and medical response arrived. They were rushed to a local hospital, where one of them died from the wounds. Following the stabbing, the suspect fled from campus. "We had 36 Santa Rosa officers respond to this incident and started combing the area. We had mutual aid assistance from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department and the Sonoma County's helicopter aided in our search," the chief said, as per CBS News, who added that the police received a tip from a witness at St Eugene's Cathedral nearby. The suspect was found hiding in a nearby creek bed. Talking about the weapon, the chief said, "The knife was described as a folding knife with a black handle that had a blade of approximately four to five inches."

Commenting on the incident, Santa Rosa City Schools Superintendent Anna Trunnell said, "This is truly a sad day. The tragedy that happened here today is heartbreaking. Our thoughts are with the students involved, their families, friends, classmates and staff of Montgomery High School. Right now our focus is on meeting the immediate physical and emotional needs of our students and staff."

Who was Jaden Pienta?

Jaden's aunt described him as "a great kid." "He minded his own business. He did good in school. He was one of the sweetest, most lovable, kindest, cutest, most compassionate…He didn't deserve any of this. Nobody saw this coming. It's an absolute tragedy and a loss," the aunt said, as per CBS News. While Jaden's grandmother Cheryl said, "He was a good boy. A quiet and gentle boy. He did not harm anybody. This is so out of character for something like this to happen to him. I don't understand."

One of the family members said, "The school didn't do anything. They did nothing. They were reported to last week when tires were slashed and there were confrontations, but they didn't do anything. They didn't document it. They didn't call parents." "They didn't even call the parents today! School kids called the parents today to let them know their son had just been stabbed. How is his mother going to get through this? How are we going to get through this," said Jaden's grandmother.