ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A 16-year-old girl was stabbed in the back at a bus stop Thursday morning during a fight with another student, according to the St. Petersburg Police Department.
- 16-year-old stabbed at school bus stop
- Two girls started fighting, police say
- 15-year-old girl taken into custody
Police said the two teenage girls began fighting at a bus stop near Paris Avenue and 6th Street South. As the bus approached, police said the fight escalated and the 15-year-old stabbed the 16-year-old.
Witness Regina Wooten saw the attack from her home and said she and her husband tried to stop the fight.
"The aggressive one, she was already sitting on the curb and the victim was coming from down the street getting ready to go to the bus," Wooten said. "So, she [the suspect] begins to attack her and all the kids went to screaming and hollering. So, me and my husband ran downstairs to try and break them up. By the time we got downstairs they were entangled with each other."
Wooten said she and her husband were able to pull the girls off of each other, but the 15-year-old suspect went back down the street and came back with a knife, according to Wooten.
"We did pull them off of each other but the aggressor went back down the street and that's when she came back with a knife, and all the kids began to holler that she had a knife," Wooten said.
After that, Wooten said the victim began to run away from the suspect toward the bus but ended up running head first into the stop sign, knocking her to the ground.
"At that time my husband was trying to pick her up off the ground but the aggressor had already come back and stabbed her in the back," she said. "That's when the kids were hollering out the window of the school bus, 'Oh my god, she stabbed her.'"
Wooten said she tried to keep the 16-year-old calm as she began to scream in pain after being stabbed.
"The young lady was screaming and hollering, 'She stabbed me. I can't move.' And she began to have a panic attack and I was trying to keep her calm," Wooten said. "I just hope she's not paralyzed because she was in a lot of pain. She was in a lot of pain and she was screaming and hollering saying that she couldn't move and blood was gushing out everywhere."
After the victim's mother arrived, Wooten said she, the girl's mother, and her step-father put the girl into their car and drover her to the police station, where they then transported her to Bayfront Health.
Deputies said the victim was seriously injury but is currently in stable condition.
The suspect was taken into custody after running onto the school bus at some point during the incident. She faces two felony charges of aggravated battery and possession of a weapon on school property. She also faces an additional felony charge of aggravated assault for threatening the victim's mother with a pair of scissors.
Police said there were between 25 to 30 students on the bus who were taken to Gibbs High School.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.