The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office filed second-degree murder charges against 16-year-old Nosakhere Kazeem Holmes in Friday’s fatal stabbing at Harding High School in St. Paul.
The county attorney’s office said it filed a delinquency petition against Holmes and has also filed a presumptive motion for adult certification.
St. Paul Public Schools Superintendent Joe Gothard identified the victim as 15-year-old Devin Scott during a press conference Tuesday. Gothard said Scott’s family wanted him to be acknowledged by name.
According to the charges, Scott and a classmate began arguing with Holmes in the hallway in between classes. They all dropped their bags and began fighting. At one point, both Scott and the classmate were on top of Holmes, according to a witness.
Holmes eventually got up off the ground with a knife in his hand and lunged towards Scott. He struck Scott once on the right side of his chest and once in the stomach.
Two staff members attempted to stop the fight and school security liaisons were called to the 10th-grade hallway where the fight took place. They estimated that it took them about 45 seconds to get to the scene. One of the security liaisons passed by Scott and a staff member on the way to the scene. He observed that Scott had “lacerations on his chest and waist area and was bleeding.”
Holmes was placed in handcuffs and escorted to an office, according to the charges. “They jumped me, they jumped me,” Holmes reportedly said.
He was expected to make his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon.
School resource officers were removed from all schools in June 2020 following George Floyd’s death. They were replaced by school and community support liaisons, according to the Pioneer Press.
Superintendent Gothard announced in an email to staff Monday that he has directed the police department to place two officers in five of the district’s high schools on a “short-term basis,” including Harding.
“We do not currently have a contract with the St. Paul Police Department and we haven’t had one for the last three years, since June of 2020,” Gothard said Tuesday. “However, I have to say … the partnership was never extinguished. The partnership never went away. We do work together. We do partner together.”
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
