'Horrendous': Parents say fatal Northside High stabbing could have been avoided

A Northside High School mother of two received messages no parent ever wants.

Minutes after dropping them off Thursday morning, Heather McCarthy's two sons texted her in a panic: They were near an apparent stabbing incident that left one student dead and another injured.

One of them sat in his classroom just two doors down from where it happened, the sound of desks being slammed against doors filling him with fear and uncertainty.

The other told his mother he was scared, his legs shaking.

"I'm having these conversations and you've seen these and you've heard these things at other schools and other states, the same accounts," McCarthy said. "I can't say, you can't say we were lucky, it was only one. That's not something that should be spoken. It shouldn't even be one, because this was absolutely preventable."

Just 24 hours after the Thursday morning altercation, parents are questioning security measures in place while also expressing concern about their kids returning to in-person school Tuesday.

Related news: Juvenile petitions filed against 3 teens in connection to Northside fatal stabbing

Northside High School incident: 1 dead, 1 hospitalized after apparent stabbing

While names have not been released due to all involved being minors, Jacksonville police confirmed juvenile petitions were filed against three teenagers.

The condition of the second student is unknown as of Friday. However, The Daily News received confirmation from Naval Medical Center that the victim is no longer in their care.

School was moved to virtual learning Friday, and students will return to in-person learning on Tuesday following the Labor Day weekend.

McCarthy has both a freshman and a senior attending the school.

"At Northside High School, last year, we had numbers of fights a week, so this year, when they said there was no lingering in the hallways, you're going straight to class, I explained to my boys, they're trying to keep you safe," McCarthy said. "They're trying to do things that will keep you safe so we don't have those fights. That was probably a day before, two days before this even happened."

McCarthy said her youngest son sent her text messages first, explaining what was going on. She added she lives close enough to the school that she heard the sirens, which is when she told her husband he needed to come home.

Once her husband made it home, they went over to the school so they could at least see the campus.

"Once receiving my kids from the school and the reports started coming out, the things that have got me concerned the most is that I feel like they're trying to take the severity down," McCarthy said. "They're definitely focusing on the response times and the positive, which, thank goodness we do have that positive in there, but I feel like it's taking away from what needs to be done. They've had condolences go out to the family, but there has been not even the slightest mention of what they're going to do moving forward."

Kristina DiCanio, the grandparent of a Northside senior, is also extremely concerned, especially after seeing social media posts that she called "horrendous."

DiCanio said everyone is aware there is a gang problem in local high schools, and it's affecting students like her 17-year-old granddaughter who just want to go to school. She added somebody has to speak up for the kids that are not the problem.

"I'm looking to have a graduation party, not a funeral," DiCanio said. "I'm going to school with my granddaughter on Tuesday and one of two things is going to happen. I'm either getting my granddaughter signed up for remote learning or I'm getting her transcripts."

McCarthy is also worried about sending her kids back to school, asking how she can knowingly send her children back to school when nothing extra has been done.

Although she knows the incident could have been gang-related, McCarthy said she's worried focusing on that will take the focus off the actual issue.

Her solution? Metal detectors.

"We are not going to be able to get rid of gang violence, violence in general, but what we can do is stop these things from getting in the school," McCarthy said. "If we had metal detectors at the two main entrances where the kids come in from the buses or the front of the school — is it going to cause an inconvenience? Yes, but the inconvenience outweighs somebody's life."

She said while she would love to see more resource officers, she knows they can't stop everything from happening.

Onslow County Schools Superintendent Barry Collins said in a Thursday morning news conference that although the district has already implemented many safety and security protocols, they do plan to look into further options in the coming days and weeks.

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Watch: Jacksonville police address Northside High School fatal stabbing

"What we have here is a situation where I wake up this morning and I keep thinking to myself, how am I going to get my kids back to school on Tuesday?" McCarthy said.

McCarthy said she feels for the teachers as well, because they probably believed they were protecting all students as well as possible.

"Next thing my youngest says is, 'I don't know how I'm going to feel walking back into that school,'" McCarthy said. "So, that is trauma. How I'm feeling is trauma. I can't be the only one that feels that way."

This is why McCarthy said she would like to see metal detectors, and is hoping the district doesn't skirt the issue.

She said she even had one of her own family members bring up the issue of students gaining access to the school via doors that don't have metal detectors, if that were something implemented.

"Well, we have teachers, and those teachers watch those doors," McCarthy said. "They don't just get to put a Band-Aid on and say hope that holds. It has to be something that's actively done. My biggest thing is, I don't want this to be focused on the possibilities of the gang violence affiliation or whatever because I think it will really blur the lines of where the focus needs to be. Those children aren't protected either and that's our duty as adults."

While DiCanio doesn't plan to have her granddaughter go back to school on campus at Northside, she does still hope to see change.

She brought up the matter of a new protocol that was supposed to be in place for this school year, where kids were not allowed into the school until 6:55 a.m., before going directly to their classrooms.

DiCanio questions why the school opened at 6:45 a.m. with kids under no supervision. She added her family is from New York City, and they moved to Jacksonville last year, ironically, because they didn't believe she was safe in New York City public schools.

Both McCarthy and DiCanio said they appreciate all of the condolences and phone calls from the school, but need to see action.

"I do appreciate the kindness, I believe the condolences are genuine, I don't believe that they're made up," DiCanio said. "But condolences are not keeping my granddaughter safe."

Reporter Morgan Starling can be reached at mstarling@gannett.com. 

This article originally appeared on The Daily News: Following Northside fatal stabbing, parents plead for change