Three students were stabbed at a Pittsburgh high school on Wednesday morning, prompting one boy to send a desperate text to his mother.
“[I don’t know] if y’all heard yet, like, two kids got stabbed,” Tess Bocsia said, reading the text from her son off her phone, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I’m fine, but I’m scared.”
The attack happened around 8:30 a.m. at Carrick High School. A 16-year-old boy, described as a “student actor,” is in custody, after allegedly attacking the others with a knife, authorities said.
“You’re just sick to your stomach,” Bocsia added. “And you’re so thankful that you’re not the parents that this happened to yesterday or the parents that this happened to just the day before or the day before that – because it happens every single day, and something needs to change.”
Two students suffered stab wounds to the abdomen. One was identified as an 18-year-old student, who was taken to UPMC Mercy in critical condition, authorities said. A second student, a teenage boy was taken to UPMC Children’s Hospital in stable condition.
A third student suffered a minor cut and was treated at the scene and released, Pittsburgh Public Safety said in a statement.
The suspect, who sustained a laceration to his hand, was also treated at the scene and it now in custody.
The stabbing stemmed from a fight between the suspect and the three other students, Dena Young, chief of Pittsburgh Public Schools police, said.
She added that the boy is new to the school district and “had some trouble last week with some kids, but not necessarily these three kids.”
It’s not clear where the teen suspect got the knife or how he got it into the school. Chief Young said he arrived late to school this morning, and therefore used a different entrance, but still would have had to go through a metal detector.
A mother of one of the students at the school told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette she’d just dropped her son off at school when he texted her to come back.
“He said, ‘Mom, come get me. Someone got stabbed,’” she said of the terrifying message.
She also said she saw several students carried out on stretchers.
“I just want my son,” she added.
UPDATE #2: A third victim sustained a minor laceration. They were treated at the scene and released.
— Pittsburgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) September 24, 2025
The male actor sustained a laceration to his hand. He was treated at the scene by medics before being transported to Police HQ. https://t.co/uAwFbkhGps
Pittsburgh Public Schools officials said in a statement that the school was in “secure status,” and that emergency responders and police remained on site “to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone in the building.”
“We are grateful for the swift action of school staff, School Police, and the City of Pittsburgh’s first responders,” according to the statement. “Additional information will be shared as it becomes available.”
This is a developing story...
