Arrest for alleged knifepoint robbery at homecoming game puts community on edge
By Felix Cortez
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SCOTTS VALLEY, CA (KSBW) — Less than a month after a Santa Cruz county high schooler was stabbed to death on campus, another incident at a different Santa Cruz county high school involving a teen accused of attempting to rob students at knife point, is again stirring emotions and raising concerns about school safety.
“I’m saddened by it, truly saddened by it, that it’s happening in our society just too frequently,” said Holly Raif, who has a freshman daughter at Scotts Valley High School, where the latest incident happened.
It happened Friday night during Scotts Valley’s homecoming game against Watsonville. Police say a 17-year-old Watsonville teen was at the game and attempted to rob students at knifepoint.
“Student that was not a Scotts Valley high student, he approached two Scotts Valley High students at two separate incidents and brandished a knife and demanded property from them,” said Captain Jayson Rutherford of Scotts Valley police department.
The students walked away, and a school resource officer and two other officers patrolling the game were notified by staff and immediately arrested the teen.
“Who knows if something else worse could’ve happened if he wasn’t detained right away if he would’ve approached other students or become more aggressive and brazen as the night went on,” said Rutherford.
Investigators say the teen may have been under the influence of alcohol. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
“It’s really scary to think that you take your kids to school to think they’re in a safe environment and you never know what can happen when they’re gone,” said Monique Clark, a mother of two students at Scotts Valley High School.
The incident comes less than a month after an Aptos High School student was stabbed to death on campus. Two classmates have been charged with his murder. But that incident triggered emotions and lead to the Pajaro Valley Unified School District to reinstate school resource officers.
The superintendent of the Scotts Valley Unified School District says her office will do an after action report.
“Nobody enjoys these events on our school campuses or at one of our sponsored activities. We will debrief the situation and determine if there is anything that could’ve been done differently or anything that we can learn for the future,” said Superintendent Tanya Krause.
Scotts Valley police say they plan to debrief district leaders on the incident later this week.
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