Two students were stabbed in a brawl Thursday in the restroom of Waukegan High School’s Washington campus.
Officers responded about noon to the school in the 1000 block of Washington Street and found the two boys, 16 and 17 years old, with stab wounds, Waukegan police said in a statement.
Police said the boys were arguing inside a restroom when it escalated into fight. Both stabbed each other with unknown objects, according to Waukegan police Commander Joe Florip.
“It was quite a chaotic scene and were still looking for the items” used in the stabbing, Florip said.
The 16-year-old was treated for moderate injuries and was released from a hospital, police said. The 17-year-old was taken to a hospital for moderate-to-serious injuries.
Florip described both boys as “mutual combatants,” and said they will be taken to the Hulse Juvenile Detention Center pending an investigation, he said.
Video posted to social media showed a struggle on the floor of a restroom with what appeared to be blood on the floor.
School principal Timothy Bryner said in a letter to parents the fight involved two students. The school was placed on soft lockdown, and classes continued normally after the incident.
“Our staff is just as shocked and saddened by this incident as I am sure you are,” he wrote in the letter, posted online.
Bryner said the school already uses metal detectors and x-ray machines, but would implement extra safety measures into the next week.
Last week, Waukegan police investigated a threatening message written in lipstick inside a restroom in the school, but police do not believe it is related to the stabbing, Florip said.
