15-year-old will be charged as adult after deadly stabbing at high school

By WRAL staff

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    RALEIGH, North Carolina (WRAL) — Court documents show Tyquan General, 15, the teenager accused in a deadly stabbing at Southeast Raleigh High School in November, will be charged as an adult.

General, a Southeast Raleigh student, was 14 on Nov. 27 when a stabbing took the life of Delvin Ferrell, 15, a freshman at the school. Another student was also injured and hospitalized.

Juvenile petitions were filed against General on Nov. 28 and Dec. 5 for first-degree murder and assault with deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. The juvenile court judge transferred the case to Superior Court, where General will be tried as an adult.

In November, District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told WRAL News, since General was accused of murder, it was her intention to transfer this case to Superior Court to try him as an adult.

“Anytime that you have young people engaged in levels of violence that rise to the level of murder, certainly, that is concerning,” Freeman said. “For 15-year-olds, it is an automatic transfer if there is probable cause found for first-degree murder.”

General’s family appealed the juvenile court judge’s decision to try him as an adult, but a Superior Court judge denied that appeal on May 23. General will need to request an arraignment date or the court will enter a “not guilty” plea on his behalf.

Freeman says his case will be added to the list of homicide cases her office will prosecute.

According to Freeman, homicide cases usually take about two years to go to trial. Since General is a minor, Freeman said he would have the possibility of parole after 25 years if he was sentenced to life in prison.

Video taken by students in November shows General wildly swinging a knife, striking two students and then walking away from the fight. Family members say one of those students was 15-year-old Ferrell, who died from his injuries.

The video shows multiple perspectives of the fight, which seems to have started outside the gymnasium and then spilled inside, with students following the fight as it unfolded.

Cherelle McLaughlin, General’s mother, told WRAL News her son was acting in self-defense and claimed he was concerned for his safety at the school.

McLaughlin said she informed the school about the potential danger to her son, warning them that he could get attacked.

“I informed the school earlier that something may happen. I informed them that morning,” she said. “I told them something may happen, boys may threaten to jump him. They didn’t get to him fast enough.”

Police and school officials have not explained exactly who or what started the fight.

Wake County doesn’t use metal detectors, some of which could detect some knives. Traditional metal detectors could cost millions of dollars and prompt long lines to get into school. Some newer weapons detection systems often don’t catch knives.

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