Hell's Kitchen

Teens slashed in face, stabbed in chest during fight at Hell's Kitchen high school: Police

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A fight that broke out at a Manhattan high school left one student slashed in the face and another stabbed in his chest, according to police.

Two people, both teenage boys, were involved in the fight at Mather Building Arts and Craftsmanship High School after 1 p.m. on West 50th Street between 9th and 10th avenues, police said. At some point during the fisticuffs on the fourth floor, one of the teens was slashed in the face and the other was stabbed in the chest.

A school safety union representative told NBC New York that both students were armed with knives. The school does not have scanners, according to the union rep.

One of the students was taken to Bellevue Hospital, though his condition was not immediately made available. It was not known if the other teen required medical attention as a result of the brawl.

It was not clear what led to the fight. On Wednesday, police said that a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old were both charged with second-degree assault in connection with the fight.

Four schools that share a campus on the block were forced into temporary lockdowns as a result. Some at recess at the time were evacuated as a precaution.

"The safety and wellbeing of our students is our top priority. Violence has absolutely no place in our schools, and this behavior is unacceptable. Our outstanding school staff and NYPD School Safety Agents immediately responded to an incident between students at the school, and the school was placed under a soft lockdown," the city's Department of Education said in a statement.

It was one of two incidents involving a stabbing at a high school on Tuesday, according to police. An 18-year-old student was slashed in the back and arm outside a high school in the Glen Oaks neighborhood of Queens just before 3 p.m.

The victim in that incident was taken to Manhasset Hospital and is expected to survive. The search for a suspect was ongoing.

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