Prep students stabbed in W. Phila. melee

Of the six students hospitalized with knife wounds after an inter-school rumble at a Market-Frankford El stop Friday morning, five are college-bound seniors from the charter school Boys Latin.

The sixth is a West Catholic junior suspected of pulling the knife and stabbing his rivals. While no charges have been filed against him yet, he is likely bound for a date with the court system.

In the aftermath, both West Philadelphia schools held assemblies to address their students in the hopes of preventing any future violence.

In one gathering, David P. Hardy, founder and CEO of Boys Latin, put about 200 juniors and seniors on notice.

"Anyone at this school who retaliates will be expelled. This is over!" he said. "Think about your future . . . You don't want to throw that away."

At West Catholic, school president Brother Timothy Ahern and principal Sister Mary Bur said they met with students "to remind them that even when school is not in session, they represent West Catholic."

The brawl came on the heels of another fight that broke out Thursday morning at the 15th Street stop of the Market-Frankford line, on the westbound platform. The two groups had been taunting each other there since Monday. Police said the tensions began over a girl.

SEPTA police responded to Thursday's incident, which began with one student from each school and grew as others joined in, Hardy said. Both schools draw students from across the city, and the 15th Street stop is a busy terminus for transferring to the Market-Frankford line.

The resumption of hostilities on Friday morning may have been spurred partly by threats issued on Facebook "saying they were going to get Boys Latin," Hardy said.

"Our guys were doing it too," he said, as he commanded his upperclassmen on Friday to "stay off Facebook."

Hoping to prevent trouble, Hardy and Maurice Watson, his school's disciplinarian, positioned themselves on the 15th Street platform Friday morning at 7 a.m., along with several SEPTA police officers.

Watson rode the El with an early group of about 20 to 30 Boys Latin students to their stop at 52nd Street. Hardy said he and SEPTA officers put a "small group of stragglers" on a later train. Hardy then began driving to school.

The later group of about a dozen Boys Latin students got off the El at 46th Street, where a group of West Catholic students apparently were waiting for them.

"They should have stayed on the El," Hardy said. "We are going to have a serious discussion."

Witnesses said the ensuing melee again started with two students and quickly grew into five separate battles.

"At first I thought they were playing," said Brian Pugh, who runs a CD stand at 46th and Market.

But then one combatant slammed his opponent into a car, and the other fights broke out. "This is not good," Pugh said he thought to himself.

At some point, the West Catholic junior, who has not been identified, pulled a blade. Police have not recovered the weapon, but said it could have been some sort of utility knife.

After the fight broke up, the Boys Latin students got back on the train to the 52nd Street stop. At least one student called ahead to Watson, who met the group and drove four of them to Mercy Hospital.

A fifth student later realized he too had been cut and went to Mercy. A sixth student, a sophomore, either broke or dislocated a finger in the fight. He was treated and returned to class with a splint, Hardy said.

The most seriously injured, Reginald Carter, a senior who just turned 19, was stabbed in the left thigh, the left side and twice in the back. He was transferred to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Carter answered the phone at his home last night and said, "I'm fine." He did not want to comment further.

Two other seniors - Kareem Davis, who sustained a deep wound to the left thigh, and Barrett Britt, who was stabbed in the buttocks - were taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

The final two seniors, Naim Brown and Kenneth Smith, were treated at Mercy for less serious wounds. All five are expected to recover from their injuries.

Deirdra Brown said her son, Naim, who just turned 18 on Thursday, was pulled off the train by West Catholic boys waiting to jump him and others. He suffered a cut to his mouth that required stitches, but is otherwise fine, she said, adding that he has a 3.8 grade-point average.

Other parents and students could not be reached.

The West Catholic junior who pulled the knife sliced himself on the hand and was treated at Jefferson University Hospital.

Ahern was not sure how many West Catholic students were involved in the fight, but he said police took several of his students to Southwest Detectives to be questioned.

The school, which is operated by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, enrolls 435 male and female students, and is only half block from the 46th Street El stop.

Ahern said he had not heard about the Thursday morning fight.

"If we were alerted, we would have been out in full force," he said. "Once we find out the true facts, there will be severe disciplinary consequences for the students who were involved, which could be expulsion."

Hardy said he didn't plan to discipline the injured students - "I think the punishment has already been dealt out," he said.

So far, four of the five have been accepted to colleges, including Penn State, Morgan State and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Hardy anticipates the fifth to be accepted to college soon.

Boys Latin, at 55th Street and Cedar Avenue, enrolls 450 male high school students and focuses on a college-preparatory curriculum that includes the mandatory study of Latin. The publicly-funded charter school is modeled after the much-lauded Boys Latin school in Boston.

Hardy described the combatants as "a subset of kids from both schools who made some dumb decisions." He said the two schools likely would hold some joint event early next week.

"We're going to work through the weekend to make sure we get this right," he said. "We can't have this."

Inquirer staff writers Robert Moran, John Sullivan and Mark Fazlollah contributed to this report

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