Noel stabbed Crump around 3 p.m. after Crump allegedly "cracked him in the head and then kneed his face," according to Saibo Sillah in a report by the
NY Post. Sillah knew both of the boys before this incident.
The attack took place with a kitchen knife after Noel had waited for the other boy outside their school. According to reports the kids were involved in a brief scuffle that ended in one being sent to the hospital. The wounded boy died of cardiac arrest due to severe stomach wounds.
School shootings are well documented and covered in the media. What not everyone knows is the extent to which bullying is a problem in
American schools. Most students will have to deal at least one incident of bullying. Many will have to deal with multiple incidents.
One question that those in the media are still debating is whether Crump was actually bullying Timothy. They had been seen in pictures together acting fairly friendly and were Facebook friends. While the picture does matter you should decide how much stock to put in
Facebook friends. Apparently some wrong turn was taken in their relationship. "He (Noel) was getting bullied," mentioned Sillah in another part of the report.
Noel had also been out of school for quite some time and some say he was being harassed at home. “They come to his building screaming up at his window, ‘We’re going to catch you,’ ” said Stephany Arroyo, Noel's neighbor. The incident happened on his first day back to school.
Family friends such as Marisol Perez made comments alleging that Noel had been struggling with mental problems. In the same report Perez mentions that his father may have found him with a rope around his neck. If these allegations in the report are true then Noel was clearly in a troubled mental state.
The Bronx has had a history of problems like this relating to
violence and
overcrowding. Stories like these are an unfortunately common occurrence in this area.