BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — It's been two weeks since a 15-year-old was stabbed in a stairwell, inside McKinley High School in Buffalo.
The 7 News I-Team has learned, from a law enforcement source, it was a pocket knife used in this attack. A district spokesperson said the investigation continues, but there are still many unanswered questions about how this happened.
The district said it's taken a layered approach to safety at all of its schools including:
- security cameras
- security checks by school security
- Buffalo police school resource officers
- partnering with Peacemakers
- Evolv weapons detection systems
But with each of these measures in place, including those weapons detection devices, it begs the question:
- how did the knife end up inside the school and
- and did this student actually go through the weapons detection system with the knife?
WATCH: 15-year-old arrested after stabbing at McKinley High School
"They're looking at cameras to see how it got into the school," Buffalo School Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams Knight said. "What I can share is, in our schools we use the Evolv detectors and we have it set, because it's the start of the year in all of our schools not just McKinley, but on the highest level so it's very sensitive to making sure that the system is able to detect threats."
But a law enforcement source tells the 7 News I-Team, that these Evolv weapons detection systems are meant to detect mass casualty weapons, like guns and explosives. They say the average setting won't detect pocket knives.
In fact, a 2022 investigation by the BBC shows, the Evolv system cannot reliably detect large knives.
Evolv sent the 7 News I-Team a statement:
"Evolv Express was specifically designed to detect guns but will also alert on many types of knives and some explosives."
Still, we don't know if this knife was walked through these weapons detectors. No one is answering that question.
The school district is quick to point out, that this attack was the result of something that happened over the summer and was then brought into the building. District administration is not commenting further because the police investigation continues.
The 7 News I-Team requested official documents about each time the system alarmed in schools and what was detected. We're still waiting to hear back.
