Student slashed in face at school

LYNN – A physical confrontation outside of Lynn English High School Tuesday afternoon turned bloody when a teenager suffered knife wounds to his face and hands as students filed into the school for night classes.School Attendance and Discipline Specialist Richard Iarrobino called police at 3:55 p.m. Tuesday to report that a 16-year-old male had been slashed across the face with a machete during a fight.The confrontation allegedly broke out in the middle of a large group of students entering the school for the LEEP Program, which offers night classes to at-risk students with behavioral issues.According to Iarrobino, at some point during the brief fight one of the participants pulled out a knife and slashed the victim across the face before fleeing the scene.Iarrobino remained with the bloodied 16-year old as paramedics arrived, at which point the victim was treated for a laceration to his face and a severe knife would to his thumb. Neither injury is considered life threatening, but the victim was transported to Mass General Hospital.As the ambulance pulled away and police questioned students inside the locked school, pools of blood formed in the rain on the school steps where Iarrobino held towels to the victim’s bloodied face.Onlookers would not comment other than to say someone was “beat down,” and that individual was a student at the school. Several teenagers in the area also signaled to each other to stay away from police, who were attempting to question witnesses of the fight.Witnesses reported to police that three light-skinned black males fled the scene immediately after the fight, but officers were unable to locate any suspects. One individual was stopped by police and questioned as a witness, but he is not a suspect in the incident.”It was a fight between two students, one of them was injured,” said Iarrobino.” It ended quickly, and those were the only two involved. We know the (victim) was a student in the LEEP program, but we aren’t sure about the other male. He could have been a student or he could have been from out of town, we really don’t know yet.”Iarrobino said he suspects other students know who the attacker is, but they aren’t talking.”He just took off,” he said. “They may know who he is, but these days they won’t tell you anything. There is a code of silence.”Lynn Police are investigating the case along with the special gang task force, and patrols will be bulked up between 4-8 p.m., when the LEEP program is taking place, until further notice.”The superintendent requested that police add a detail tonight, and have that continue to make sure there is no retaliation,” said Iarrobino. “We don’t know if this is gang related or what it is. We have had a good year here so far. This appears to be an isolated incident, but we don’t want to take any chances.”Superintendent Nicholas Kostan met with Iarrobino and School Safety and Security Planning Liaison Robert Ferrari Wednesday morning, and said he feels confident that police have a “pretty good idea of who is responsible.””It is certainly disturbing,” he said. “We haven’t had a problem over there at the LEEP program in a number of years. But the police are all over this one.”As of Wednesday afternoon, police had not made an arrest in the attack.