VAN NUYS : Student’s Condition Critical After Stabbing Near School

A 14-year-old Van Nuys Middle School student stabbed another 14-year-old student near the school Wednesday afternoon, and the victim was hospitalized in extremely critical condition, authorities said.

Witnesses said the attacker ran up behind the victim as he was walking home from school and stabbed him once in the leg, said Detective John Edwards of the LAPD’s Van Nuys division.

The witnesses, some of them other students, recognized the attacker and told police his name, Edwards said. Police waited for him at his home, where he walked up “with blood on him,” Edwards said. The boy tried to flee, but was caught after a brief chase.

The boy later confessed to the stabbing, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and is being held at San Fernando Valley Juvenile Hall, Edwards said.