Teenager killed after high school football game

This is not original reporting. All information has been compiled from 15-Year-Old Charged in Death of Another 15-Year-Old in the Washington Post. Silver Chips Online posts these news summaries to provide readers with a forum for discussion.

A 15-year old girl died after being stabbed during a fight between two groups of girls in the parking lot following the end of the football game last Friday, Sept. 23, at James Hubert Blake High School, according to an article in The Washington Post.

Kanisha Neal, a freshman at Rockville High School, was taken to Suburban Hospital in Bethesda where she was pronounced dead after the game. Police say Neal was stabbed one time close to the heart, said The Post. Authorities have taken a suspect into custody, but would not release her name because she was being charged as a juvenile. They did say that the suspect was an Olney resident who attended Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring.

Witnesses and police said the fight broke out as students were leaving the parking lot following Blake's 44-0 loss to Sherwood. Authorities state the fight apparently stemmed from a week-long feud after one of the girls spit at another, stated The Post's article.

The stabbing was the second fatal assault after a Montgomery County high school football game in a week. According to The Post, Stephone Wiggins, 23, of Germantown died of injuries suffered Sept. 16 when he was beaten with a miniature baseball bat after a football game between Seneca Valley and Northwest High Schools. That fight took place off-campus near the game's end unlike Friday's on-campus stabbing.

Montgomery County school officials said they believe neither fight was caused by gang influence or the outcome of the games.

Montgomery school officials and police plan to review ways to improve security at school sporting events, such as possibly moving football games to Saturday afternoons. Montgomery County police spokesman Lucille Baur said the brutal attacks were anomalies.

"High school football games have been going on for years, and we have not for many years had any deaths or severe injuries," she told The Post.

There were a few fights following Blake's game against Paint Branch High School the week before the stabbing and administrators were put on alert for the game against Sherwood, said The Post. There were four police officers at last Friday's game, double the number from the previous week.

According to the article, Carole Goodman, Blake's principal, was one of five administrators on duty during the game and she said that this week will be about preventing further violence and rebounding from tragedy.

"For us, Monday will be about taking care of each other and talking about what occurred and how we can stop it. It wasn't one of our kids, but we have to stop these things from happening because it could have been," she said.