PITTSBURGH — A 16-year-old is being charged as an adult in connection with a stabbing at Carrick High School that injured three students.
PHOTOS: Multiple students stabbed inside Carrick High School
Anthony Taulton is facing three felony charges.
He has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault, possession of instruments of crime and possession of a weapon on school property.
Channel 11 was at the police station on Wednesday as officers escorted Taulton inside in handcuffs.
Police sources identified him as the suspect in the stabbing.
According to court documents, police observed surveillance video that showed Taulton and one of the victims squaring off before a fight broke out, which led to the stabbings. The other two students who were injured got involved in the fight after the square off.
Police said they interviewed Taulton, who told them the whole situation began three weeks ago when a friend of his got into a fight with another boy at Carrick High School. He said he got involved and ended up in a text thread on Instagram. Taulton said there was back-and-forth banter in the text thread and that several boys were sending threatening messages toward him. Police said they asked him for the name of the boys and Taulton said he did not know.
Taulton told police he told his mom on Wednesday that he did not want to go to school because he felt like he would get into an altercation.
Court documents say Taulton said he grabbed a kitchen knife from home, put it inside a hat and put the hat inside his book bag. He said when he got to the school, he handed his bag to a security guard before he went through the metal detector. He said the bookbag was checked and the knife was not found. He then moved the knife to his front hoodie pocket.
Taulton said he walked past the boys in the Instagram group chat and that one of them said “run 30,” which police said refers to a 30-second fight. Taulton said one of the boys then began coming toward him, so he pulled out the knife and told him not to come toward him. He said the fight broke out anyway and that the two other students got involved and he stabbed them as well.
Police said that 30 minutes before the fight broke out, Taulton’s mother alerted the school that she was in fear that an altercation would happen.
When police spoke with the victims, one of them said Taulton was the first to make a move to begin a fight, another said he joined the fight to protect his friend and a third said he began throwing punches as the fight moved toward him in an attempt to get them away.
Investigators said, upon reviewing surveillance video, they do not believe Taulton ever feared for his.
Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Wayne Walters spoke with Channel 11 following a school board meeting on Wednesday night.
“What happened today at Pittsburgh’s Carrick High School is deeply troubling and my heart is with the students who were injured and their families,” Walters said.
Dr. Walters confirmed Taulton entered the building through the cafeteria entrance.
According to Dr. Walters, that entrance is used for students who arrive late to school.
The school has metal detectors at both the cafeteria and the main entrance.
Dr. Walters also said four school resources officers are inside the building at all times and two are mobile and outside the building.
Dr. Walters said Taulton’s backpack was searched.
The superintendent also shared that Taulton’s parent contacted the school earlier in the day with concerns.
“The parent shared that she had some concerns, possibly from social media, and she shared that with school safety,” Walters said. “As soon as school safety came to the office, that is when the altercation broke out.”
Walters did not provide additional details.
Classes will be held remotely on Thursday and Friday.
Students and staff are expected to return to the building on Monday. Walters said extra security will be in place.
“There will be increased security presence but there will be support for students who are going through healing processes as well,” he said.
The violence prevention group REACH was seen outside the school on Wednesday afternoon, meeting with students.
“We are just dealing with them in a real way,” said Vaughn Rivers with REACH Outreach Pittsburgh. “Just trying to see how they were feeling. A lot of them had left school early. We are trying to always steer them through some steps of what they can expect in the days to come.”
Taulton is currently being held at the Allegheny County Jail.
He was denied bond and is scheduled to appear before a judge on October 1.
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