 |
| A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(March 2022) |
Devan Bracci-Selvey was a 14-year-old ninth-grade student at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School who was stabbed to death outside the school by a fellow student in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on 7 October 2019.
Bracci-Selvey spotted his missing bike across the street from the school, and his friend then called his father to ask if he could help retrieve his friend's bike from a group of bullies who had stolen it a few weeks prior. The father of said friend arrived at the nearby Pat Quinn Parkdale Arena and confronted the thieves to assist getting Bracci-Selvey's bike back. While trying to reason, the 18-year older brother of the central perpetrator responded by spraying the man with what is believed to have been bear mace. Bracci-Selvey's mother then arrived, after which he attempted to run and call for her. He made it from the arena across from the front of the school, where the bear mace attack happened, and later to the back of the school where Bracci-Selvey's mother waited in the parking lot.
As Bracci-Selvey was getting closer to his mother, a group of students came running from the back of the school in pursuit of him. A 16-year-old girl taunted Bracci-Selvey demanding he hit her, to which he replied, "I can’t hit you, I wasn’t raised that way." Bracci-Selvey attempted to rush over to enter his mother's vehicle but was stabbed nineteen times from behind by a single perpetrator. [1] [2]
Devan Bracci-Selvey was 14 years old at the time of his death, and went to Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, where he was in the ninth-grade.
Devan's sister wrote on a GoFundMe fundraiser for his funeral that her brother was a "shy, quiet, [helpful] kid who had tried get help with the bullying he was experiencing." Devan was fond of cars, video games, and animals, had dreams of becoming a mechanic, and was excited to become an uncle for the second time. Devan, as per his mother, "protected everybody" and never hesitated to stick up for friends when they were being harassed. Citing the age of the victim and suspects as well as an ongoing investigation, police would not comment on nor confirm speculation and reports surrounding possible motives and the nature of the confirmed "existing relationship" between the victim and the accused. Relatives, including the boy's mother, who spoke to Global News and CP24 , confirmed Devan was relentlessly bullied since beginning high school a month earlier, and their concerns were dismissed by school officials who deemed there was "insufficient evidence to take action." Devan had begun skipping classes, attending school part-time before calling home asking to be picked up, or refusing to go to school in the mornings as a result of the bullying. [3] [4]
Two brothers, a 14-year-old and an 18-year-old, were arrested after the incident and later charged with first-degree murder following a preliminary investigation by Hamilton Police Service. A third individual was arrested but "was interviewed and later released unconditionally once [their] involvement in the investigation was established." On October 8, 2019, police had announced a 16-year-old male and a 16-year-old female, outstanding suspects, were also arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of first-degree murder. On October 9, 2019, both were released without charge after being questioned lengthily about the homicide. Detective-Sergeant Steve Bereziuk noted in a media release that "based on evidence there is some element of pre-planning […] and premeditation [involved with] this homicide." [5] [6] [7] [8]
In August 2020, the 18-year-old suspect received a suspended sentence with 15 months on probation. The family of the victim was not satisfied with the sentence. [9]
A crisis response intervention team, social workers, police liaison officers, wellness counsellors, and extra staff support for teachers and administrators were sent to the school following the incident. As public frustration and anger grew against the perceived inaction of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) leading up to the incident, Director of Education Manny Figueiredo advised CBC News that "an investigation into what happened [would] get underway once the police investigation wraps [up]." After the stabbing, Figueiredo felt the school was still "the safest place for a kid to be right now [as] a lot of [students] want to be together, they want to be with their friends and talk and make sense and deal with their grief" even as many parents kept their children home from school in the days after the stabbing. When pressed specifically on the bullying Bracci-Selvey endured and what the school did in response, Figueiredo said he was not aware of what led up to the violence and instead advocated for a community-oriented response: "The schools don't live in isolation of the community... they need to take a leadership role [when it comes to bullying] because we have these students for five hours a day. We have to continue to engage our kids...if a kid turns to us, how are we responding so they see that it's safe to respond?" Figueiredo encouraged students who do not feel safe, or have not felt safe in the past, to raise their concerns with adults. [10] [11]
Braeside is a residential neighbourhood in the southwest quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. It is located north of Anderson Road, south of Southland Drive, west of 14th Street SW and east of 24th Street SW.
Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School is a Canadian secondary school located in Hamilton, Ontario. It is a member of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. The school's mission statement is "Educating students to become lifelong learners and contributing citizens in a challenging, changing, multi-cultural world." Apart from the standard course offerings, the school provides special education classes and an ESL program.
Dominicans Don't Play (143) is a Dominican-American street gang started in Manhattan, New York in 1991. They are known for primarily using machetes and knives as weapons. DDP is located across New York City, particularly in the Bronx, Harlem and the Lower East Side. They are also located in New Jersey, cities such as like Union City, North Bergen, Paterson, Passaic, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Perth Amboy, and South Amboy. They are also located overseas in various countries.
A series of uncoordinated mass stabbings, hammer attacks, and cleaver attacks in the People's Republic of China began in March 2010. The spate of attacks left at least 90 dead and some 473 injured. As most cases had no known motive, analysts have blamed mental health problems caused by rapid social change for the rise in these kinds of mass murder and murder-suicide incidents.
Rehtaeh Anne Parsons, was a 17-year-old Cole Harbour District High School student who attempted suicide by hanging at her home in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, on April 4, 2013, leading to a coma and the decision to switch her life support machine off on April 7, 2013. Her death has been attributed to online distribution of photos of an alleged gang rape that occurred 17 months prior to her suicide, in November 2011. On a Facebook page set up in tribute to her daughter, Parsons' mother blamed the four boys who allegedly raped and released images of her, the subsequent constant "bullying and messaging and harassment", and the failure of the Canadian justice system, for her daughter's decision to die by suicide.
On September 4, 2013, one student was killed and three others were wounded in a stabbing attack at Spring High School in Spring, Texas, United States. A 17-year-old student, identified as Luis Alonzo Alfaro, was arrested and charged for the murder. In September 2014, Alfaro was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
On April 15, 2014, Matthew de Grood, son of Calgary Police Inspector Doug de Grood, stabbed five young adults to death at a house party in the Brentwood neighbourhood of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The party was several blocks away from the University of Calgary campus, and held to mark the end of its school year. It was Calgary's deadliest massacre.
Paul Manning, also known by the pseudonyms Paul Wright and the Englishman, is a former Hamilton Police Service officer, Metropolitan Police Service officer and Royal Military Police officer (UK) who worked undercover in an Ontario Provincial Police and Hamilton Police Service joint task force for 18 months, successfully infiltrating the Musitano crime family, Papalia crime family and the Hamilton chapter of Hells Angels.
On 6–7 April 2017, two teenage boys aged 15 and 16 went on a rampage in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia, first stabbing a service station attendant to death, then violently attacking four people in a spree that continued for several hours. The attacks were investigated by Australia's Joint Counter Terrorism Task Force as a possible terrorism-related crime. On 1 May 2020 both males were sentenced. The older received a jail term of 35 years and 6 months, while the younger received 18 years and 4 months.
A vehicle-ramming attack occurred on April 23, 2018, when a rented van was driven along Yonge Street through the North York City Centre business district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The driver, 25-year-old Alek Minassian, targeted pedestrians, killing 11 and injuring 15, some critically. The incident is the deadliest vehicle-ramming attack in Canadian history.
The murder of Tessa Majors occurred near Morningside Park in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, on December 11, 2019. Majors, an eighteen-year-old student at Barnard College, was attacked and stabbed by three teenagers as part of a robbery. Majors was discovered collapsed and bleeding on a staircase exiting Morningside Park and transported to a nearby hospital, ultimately succumbing to the injuries.
A misogynist terrorist attack in a Toronto erotic spa took place on 24 February 2020.
A mass stabbing incident occurred 6 August 2021, on a commuter train in the Odakyu Electric Railway in Tokyo, Japan. Ten people were injured in the incident.
Jeffrey Michael German was an American investigative reporter who wrote for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Sun, his career spanning four decades. He was stabbed to death in 2022 by Robert Telles, an elected Clark County, Nevada Public Administrator, whom German had investigated and reported on.
Ken Lee, a 59-year-old man, was fatally stabbed outside the Strathcona Hotel, on York Street, Toronto, at 12:17 am on December 18, 2022. Eight teenage girls were charged with his murder.