Gang rivalry blamed in fatal Houston-area high school stabbing

The fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old student at a Houston-area high school this week was gang-related, investigators said Thursday.

The stabbing Wednesday morning at Spring High School, a suburban campus of more than 3,000 students about 25 miles north of downtown Houston, was motivated by gang rivalry, according to a statement from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

The student in custody, also 17, told investigators he bumped into a fellow student as he entered the cafeteria, the two exchanged words, shoved each other and then he was hit in the face by a third student, according to court documents cited by the Houston Chronicle.

He then pulled a pocket knife from his shorts, according to the documents, opened it and covered his face as he waved the knife back and forth.

Los Angeles Times policy is not to identify juveniles accused of crimes unless they are being tried as adults. The teen was charged with murder and remained in jail Thursday on a $150,000 bond.

Joshua Devon Broussard was fatally stabbed and three other students were injured.

Sheriff’s investigators said they would not identify the gangs involved in the stabbing, to prevent them from gaining added notoriety.

The stabbing marked at least the third high-profile incidence of violence at a Houston-area campus this year.

In April, more than a dozen students were injured in a stabbing attack by a student at Lone Star College CyFair Campus. In January, a shooting at another Lone Star community college campus wounded three people. That shooting, like Wednesday’s stabbing, occurred after two young men bumped into each other.

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