Published Friday, April 8, 2022 | 4:57 p.m.
Updated Friday, April 8, 2022 | 10:04 p.m.
A Las Vegas high school student who attacked a teacher in her classroom is facing counts of attempted murder and sexual assault, according to Metro Police.
Officers were dispatched about 3:30 p.m. Thursday to Eldorado High School in the 1100 block of Linn Lane and found the woman being treated by medical personnel, police said. She was transported to the University Medical Center in stable condition, police said.
A 16-year-old student, who was not identified, went to the teacher’s classroom to talk about his grades, police said. At some point, he began punching the teacher and strangled her until she lost consciousness, police said.
After the attack, the student fled the classroom, and another employee found the teacher, police said.
Clark County School District Police later arrested the student in the 5700 block of Cedar Avenue, according to Metro.
He was transported to the Clark County Detention Center and booked on counts of attempted murder, sexual assault, battery with intent to commit sexual assault, first-degree kidnapping and robbery, Metro said.
School police Lt. Bryan Zink said the teen arrested after Thursday’s attack was taken to the Clark County jail and would face charges as an adult. The charges against him could put him in prison for the rest of his life.
School administrators issued a statement to parents calling the attack “an isolated incident,” and Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara sent a message to employees calling safety “our top priority.”
“I am devastated, and the CCSD family hurts for the teacher assaulted at Eldorado High School,” Jara’s message said. “Our hearts are heavy because of the violence committed against her, and we pray for her full recovery.”
Clark County Education Association President Marie Neisess said Eldorado staff tell her that they don't think enough has been done to protect their safety.
“They feel that there's not enough consequences for some of our students that display such a high level of behavior problems,” she said. “They're angry and they're upset.”
Unless the school district can assure them that it will implement “immediate interventions” to enhance Eldorado’s security once school resumes after spring break, which starts this weekend and runs until April 19, “that school shouldn’t reopen until there are some more safety measures in place.”
Neisess said it appeared that the suspect was able to get into the classroom after school through an open door.
Eldorado, which has an enrollment of about 2,000, has only three civilian security monitors, she added.
The building has cameras, but not all of them are working, which Neisess said some teachers found upsetting — but others said only helps after the fact.
“One educator said, ‘If a student were to bring a weapon and kill me, that camera picks up the perpetrator, but I'm still dead,’” she said.
The violence was only the latest for the sprawling district, the nation’s fifth-largest with more than 300,000 students and more than 18,000 teachers at about 336 schools — including more than 70 high schools — in an area the size of New Jersey. The district began a weeklong spring break after classes were dismissed on Friday.
On Wednesday, a 17-year-old boy was arrested after a loaded gun was found on the floor of a school bathroom at a northwest Las Vegas high school.
On March 29, a campus police officer fired three gunshots at a moving car that had struck a girl amid a report of a fight in a parking lot at a downtown Las Vegas high school. Four teenage non-students were in the car. The driver and a passenger received minor wounds, and the girl struck by the car was not seriously hurt.
A day earlier, a 36-year-old mother was arrested near a Henderson high school and accused of trying to kill two schoolgirls by driving her vehicle into them to prevent them from fighting her daughter after an on-campus dispute. Police said the injured girls had broken bones but were expected to recover.
In early March, 11 people were arrested, including an adult who allegedly entered a southwest Las Vegas high school campus during several days of student fights, social media threats, classroom lockdowns and an unproved report of a gun.
In February, video posted to the internet showed a female high school student attacking a girl who was seated at a desk, pummeling her with about 35 punches to the back and side of her head.
Since schools began in August, campus police have reported 3,000 assaults and fights, and confiscated more than 25 guns, the school district police chief said.
“As I have said previously,” Jara said in his message on Friday, “violent acts, assaults, and bullying will not be tolerated ... and those who choose to engage in these activities will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
