Boys slits girl's throat at Montrose HS

[Mount-n-Groan]

Some of you may have heard already. Scary stuff. Even though Montrose isn't the same small town it was when I was growing up here; it's still a small town and this kind of stuff reverberates powerfully around here. I don't know the family of the victim personally, but I hope and pray everything is okay with her. As for the suspect all I can think of is how his parents have failed him (and all of us) miserably. The reported calmness of the suspect and his actions are especially eerie to me.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_10955391

A 14-year-old boy calmly walked into the entrance of Montrose High School this morning, grabbed a girl from behind and slit her throat in front of her sister and dozens of classmates.

The sophomore girl, Mallory Haulman, was taken by ambulance in serious condition to Montrose Memorial Hospital, where she underwent several hours of surgery and is now recovering, said William Woody, a family friend who also works with the girl's father at the Montrose newspaper.

The 14-year-old suspect was arrested shortly after the attack near the high school at 600 S. Selig, according to authorities.

The juvenile is a student at an alternative school and it is not known what the motive was, said Kathi Kinkel, Montrose police spokeswoman.

Paola Gomez, a sophomore at the school, said she saw the boy walk through the entrance of the school at about 8 a.m., 25 minutes before class starts, wearing blue trousers and a blue baseball cap on backwards.

"He like walks in real calmly like he is a student. She was walking away from him. He calmly walks up to her and grabbed her by the throat," Gomez said. "He pulled her head back and slit her throat."

She said the girl dropped her books, held her throat and began screaming, "'Oh, my God. Someone help me.'"

A girl who had been walking with her was screaming, "My sister. My sister."

The suspect turned around and looked straight into Gomez' eyes "as if nothing happened and calmly walked out of the building," she recounted. "We made eye contact. It was spooky."

The hallway was very full, Gann said.

"Quite a few students witnessed the event," she said. "There was a lot of bravery, a lot of heroism in the hallway. Staff members stepped in immediately and protected other students from being harmed and helped the injured student."

Gomez said as the suspect walked out of the school, she was trying to get other kids to go after him while other students helped the victim, Gomez said.

"He just disappeared," she said. "There was a bunch of blood everywhere."

Puddles of blood were forming on the floor, Gomez said. She said the cut was very deep.

"I'm still pretty shocked and kind of scared," she said. "It's overwhelming. I hope she will be okay."

The suspect has been staying at "a lot of different facilities" including one in Grand Junction recently, Gann said. She said she could not describe the facilities where he has been attending school.

His first day at Vista Charter School was Monday, she said. The name of the suspect has not been released because he is a juvenile, Kinkel said.

Mallory Haulman did not know the suspect, Woody said.

She is on the school's junior varsity softball team, Woody said. After her surgery she was able to speak, he said. Her main worry besides the injury to her throat was missing basketball practice Tuesday, he said.

Gann said counseling will be made available for students when they return to class tomorrow.

"If they need to talk through things, the resources will be made available for them to do that," Gann said. "It's the classic 'things like that aren't supposed to happen here.'"

Montrose High School has 1,400 students, she said.

[Southstander]

Said sick world.

[ebsoria]

Holy crap! That is spooky. I can't imagine seeing a person non-chalantly slit another's throat, let alone a kid. This is another story that shows that this kind of crap can happen anywhere.

[Mount-n-Groan]

Holy crap! That is spooky. I can't imagine seeing a person non-chalantly slit another's throat, let alone a kid. This is another story that shows that this kind of crap can happen anywhere.

Yes, it can. It's not like we don't see our fair share of shootings, murders, and plane crashes , but I'm telling you - - if this can happen here it CAN happen anywhere. Montrose is one of the largest communities in Western CO, but still considered small by city-goer standards. Many visitors often comment on just how nice everyone is here. It's always been known as a great place to raise a family, and I still think it is in a relative sense; but that asset just took a major hit today.

[BigMert]

I almost threw up just reading that. That is awful.

[2 Minute Warning]

Wow that is scary, such a tragedy, times have changed so over the years, sad indeed.

[getlynched47]

she didn't die...did she?

Stupid kid I blame his idiot parents

[LordTrychon]

Wow. That's really messed up. That girl is going to be in some real therapy.

[Missin#7]

Oh wow, How do other students that saw this ever get past it.
That Boy needs to be locked up for life.

[Mount-n-Groan]

she didn't die...did she?

Stupid kid I blame his idiot parents

No, it sounds like she's going to be all right. No real details on the exact injuries to her neck, but she did go through "several hours" of surgery.

No more details on the suspect's story either, but without knowing his exact situation I'd still say that it's likely that his family/home life wasn't all that good.

I'll post more details when I get them. My nephew's a senior there so I should be able to get some more info from him.

[Peanut]

I'm glad the girl is going to be okay. The emotional trauma is going to be there a long time. Prayers to her and family.

[RealBronco]

Wow... I hope she will be okay. And I hope she is able to use it to empower herself rather than tear her down and ruin her life...

i'm glad people rushed to her aide, but i'm surprised a group or two didn't buckle up and go after the kid...

sometimes you hear about stories where people react in heroism... but, at least no one else was hurt.