Teen stabbed during fight at London high school football game

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A teenager was stabbed during a fight at a nighttime football game at a north London high school.

London police were called around 9 p.m. Thursday to a reported stabbing on Tennent Avenue. Officers found a 16-year-old with an apparent stab wound who was taken to hospital with minor injuries, police said Friday.

“The investigation revealed that a group of youths were involved in the altercation, and this was not a random incident,” Sgt. Sandasha Bough said, adding no suspects had been arrested and the investigation was ongoing as of Friday morning.

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Police didn’t identify the school where the stabbing happened, but A.B. Lucas secondary school sent out an email to parents Thursday night, saying the school was aware of an “isolated incident” during a football game on school property.

“The suspect has left school property and there is no threat to the school community,” principal George Bullas wrote in the email obtained by The Free Press. “The football game has resumed and school will be open (Friday).”

The Thames Valley District school board has dispatched crisis counsellors to Lucas to support students, Bullas added.

The school board called the stabbing an “isolated, serious incident” but said there is no ongoing threat to the school community.

“We are actively working with the London Police Service as they investigate the incident,” the board said in a statement. “We cannot comment on the identity of any individuals involved due to the ongoing police investigation.”

The Lucas Vikings were playing host to the Saunders Sabres at home for a 6 p.m. game Thursday. Police didn’t say whether the victim is a student of either school.

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This isn’t the first time there has been a stabbing at Lucas.

Two males, both 16, were stabbed during a fight in a forest near the school on Sept. 14, 2022.

A 17-year-old, whose name was protected because he was a minor, pleaded guilty last year to possession of a dangerous weapon and two counts of aggravated assault were withdrawn. He was given a conditional discharge that included 12 months’ probation, 25 hours of community service and a two-year weapons ban.

Court heard the two victims has taken their attacker’s phone and led him from the cafeteria to a forest near the high school where the pair assaulted him. Video posted on TikTok, a video-sharing mobile app and website, showed the teen being forced to kneel on the ground and beg not to be beat up by the two teens.

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

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