Overview
- A seventh-grade student attacked classmates during early drop-off at Walton Middle School in DeFuniak Springs, injuring two students who remain in critical condition and a paraprofessional who survived.
- Investigators say the student was dropped off around 7:17 a.m. Tuesday, went into a bathroom, then emerged masked with a sharp object and carried out a 45-second assault in a hallway.
- Deputies detained the 12-year-old near the campus within about seven minutes, and a school resource deputy already on site helped contain the scene as more officers arrived.
- By Wednesday, prosecutors filed attempted murder and other felony charges, the youth was held without bond, and deputies said they recovered a knife from a nearby retention pond.
- Doctors treated and released the paraprofessional, while one student was airlifted to Pensacola and another taken to Fort Walton Beach; classes were canceled Tuesday and families were directed to reunify at the Walton County Fairgrounds.