Abel Cedeno Charged In NYC School Stabbing

NEW YORK CITY — A Bronx student has been charged with murder after he stabbed a classmate to death during a history lesson on Wednesday. Abel Cedeno, 18, faces nine criminal charges after fatally stabbing 15-year-old Matthew McCree in the chest Wednesday morning at the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation in the West Farms neighborhood, the NYPD said.

Another 15-year-old boy remains in critical condition at St. Barnabas Hospital after also being stabbed in the chest, a police spokesman said.

Cedeno is in jail without bail following his arraignment Thursday morning, a spokeswoman for the Bronx district attorney's office said. He faces charges of second-degree murder, attempted murder, felony assault and criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor, according to online court records.

Watch: Mayor DeBlasio And NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce Comment On The Stabbing

Armed with a switchblade knife with a three-inch blade, Cedeno lashed out at the two other students at 10:45 a.m. yesterday after an argument between them escalated, officials said Wednesday. Asked by a Pix11 reporter whether the boys were bullying him, Cedeno said "Yes" as he was leaving the 48th Police Precinct on Wednesday night.

"They pushed Abel too far," a classmate of Cedeno's told Pix11 through tears. "Abel was a kid who was made fun of in school and they pushed him too far."

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Security officers were to start randomly screening some of the high school's students with metal detectors Thursday morning. The building at 2024 Mohegan Ave. previously lacked metal detectors, which would have picked up the knife Cedeno used, officials said Wednesday.

Students at PS 67, an elementary school also located in the building, are not being screened, a Department of Education spokeswoman said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and city schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña met with students, parents and teachers at the school Thursday morning and checked on the temporary scanners being used there, the mayor's office said.

There were no other reported incidents between the three students at the school, officials said yesterday.

"We believe that this argument, this thing, has been going on for about two weeks into the school year and it escalated today after some back-and-forth within the classroom," NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.

Cedeno is due back in court Oct. 3.

(Lead image from Google Maps)