‘I’m just crazy.’ A Florida Keys boy, 11, attacked two students with scissors, police say
An 11-year-old boy was taken into custody Tuesday after the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said he stabbed two students with a pair of scissors last week at Sugarloaf School in the Lower Keys.
“There were no life-threatening injuries reported in the May 7 incident,” said Adam Linhardt, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office. “The Department of Juvenile Justice booked the suspect student Tuesday afternoon.”
The incident, which police called an aggravated battery, happened at about 2 p.m. May 7 in a fifth-grade classroom while students were watching a social studies video, according to the warrant affidavit.
One boy, 11, needed six stitches to close the wound on his arm, Linhardt said.
The boy said that the other 11-year-old became enraged and got up from his desk with a pair of scissors in his hand, police reported. “He stated that he walked toward him with the scissors raised and then slashed him across the arm,” the affidavit states.
The two had a “verbal altercation” earlier, police said. Linhardt said he did not know what it was about and the police account did not give any details.
The classroom teacher told police she witnessed the incident between the two 11-year-olds. She said the boy with the scissors “lunged” at the other boy, who was sitting on the floor, from behind, police reported.
“I start yelling at [him] to get off [the boy] and he does without me having to pull them apart,” the teacher said, according to police.
“I had to ask [the boy] several times to put the scissors down,” the teacher said. “He was still holding the scissors by the blades with the sharp end sticking out.”
Once he put them down, the teacher asked him why he did it, and he replied that “he just annoys me,” the affidavit states.
He also told the teacher, “I’m just crazy. I have a bad temper. I chase my brother around at home with a knife,” according to the affidavit.
The scissors came from the boy’s pencil box, the teacher told police.
The other student who was cut, a 10-year-old boy, did not need stitches, Linhardt said.
The boy’s mother told police that her son and the boy accused of the stabbing had been arguing earlier that day and her son was “sliced” across his leg, the affidavit states.
Police said the injury appeared to be superficial and did not require immediate medical attention. Teachers who had been with the students that day didn’t see the boy get cut, police said.
Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward said his office needs to find out more about the child before proceeding.
“What we need to do is to have the home study done by the Department of Children and Families,” Ward said. “I would like to get as much information on this kid and his home life to see what’s going on and why he acted this way. We need to get some professional help to interact with this child and see if we can get the child some mental health treatment that would help him get his life back together.”
Ward said, “There will be a detention hearing by a judge to determine whether he remains in custody or is released to his parents.”
