Following a stabbing at Montgomery Blair High School on Monday, a relative of the 16-year old suspect has also been arrested. The relative, also a juvenile, was taken into police custody after bringing a knife onto the Silver Spring school campus Tuesday.
In Monday’s assault, Maycol Coyoy, 16, is charged as an adult following the stabbing in the school parking lot, according to Montgomery County Police. He is charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
According to Principal Renay Johnson, Coyoy’s relative brought a knife to school, which was discovered during a self-search. The student’s family was informed, and Montgomery County Police took the young man into custody.
The student who was stabbed, who is also a juvenile, was released from the hospital and is at home, according to Johnson’s letter to Blair families.
“Today, out of an abundance of caution, Montgomery County Police is on campus to support school security efforts in ensuring a safe environment,” Johnson wrote in the letter. She also noted that school counselors and central office counselors are available for support.
However, some students at Blair do not believe the school is looking out for their mental health.
“Me and my classmates went through a traumatic experience this morning and there was no one to talk to about it. Blair continued with business as usual. Classes went on, homework assigned, no real way forward of how to cope,” said Hanan Miles, whose posted remarks on Instagram were sent to MyMCM.
“Many, many students saw this incident before them. They saw someone get stabbed, yet still nothing was announced today for helping them get through that,” Miles said Monday.
Young People for Progress, a Montgomery County organization aimed at “creating a more just and equitable society,” said the Blair stabbing and other incidents at Montgomery County Public Schools during the school day and at football games show the need for more mental health and social support.
The group called for the hiring of a social worker and restorative justice practitioner at every school, noted Executive Director Danielle Blocker.
“There were police, now called Community Engagement Officers (CEOs) instead of their previous name–School Resource Officers (SROs), covering all of the schools when these incidents happened. Some police were even in the immediate vicinity. But police were not able to prevent or stop any of these incidents from happening. This is because police don’t prevent conflicts from escalating, and police don’t prevent violence,” Young People for Progress wrote in its press release.
The organization called for total removal of police in schools, and the end to “regular police check-ins or regular surveillance at or near schools before/after school or during open lunch periods.”
The organization Racial Justice NOW! of Silver Spring issued a statement calling for more support for students. It condemned those who will use the stabbing and other high school fights as reasons to bring back student resource officers. “[N]either police nor policing equal safety,” the organization wrote in its statement.
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