Credit: Chalabala - stock.adobe.com

A teenage boy was charged with assault and San Marcos High School was forced to go under “secure protocol” Friday March 8 after Santa Barbara Sheriff’s deputies responded to a reported double-stabbing in a residential neighborhood near the high school on the 4600 block of Chilon Way. 

According to Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Raquel Zick, deputies arrested one 16-year-old boy for allegedly assaulting two other teens, a 17-year-old girl and 17-year-old boy. Both victims had non-life threatening wounds, suffering wounds to the leg and arm, respectively, and both were transported via ambulance to an area hospital for medical treatment. 

Deputies arrived at the scene where the potentially deadly assault transpired at approximately 8:31 a.m., and were unable to locate the suspect, who had fled before deputies arrived. At 10:12 a.m. the 16-year-old suspect was identified by Sheriff’s deputies and voluntarily surrendered himself at the Sheriff’s Headquarters, where he was arrested and subsequently charged for assault with a deadly weapon. He was booked at the Santa Maria Juvenile Hall while the investigation remains ongoing. 

The “secure” protocol was ordered at San Marcos High in accordance with the Standardized Response Protocol, a recently developed collaboration between area schools and law enforcement.

It is the second time in the past two weeks that San Marcos has gone into lockdown procedures for assaults with deadly weapons involving juveniles. The first incident occurred on February 27 after a knife attack at the Turnpike Shopping Center left one juvenile with minor injuries. The investigation into the first incident has resulted in two arrests thus far. 

Authorities have not confirmed whether the February 27 and March 8 attacks are related, and Zick could not be reached for further comment.

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