SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Dec. 5 (UPI) -- A high school family counselor in Springfield, Mass., was stabbed to death Wednesday in class by a student described as a "very troubled" young man, authorities said.
The alleged assailant, a 17-year-old student in an alternative program, was in custody, police said.
"This was not a planned attack," Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett said at a news conference, trying to reassure parents that the school itself was safe.
"The Rev. Theodore Brown, a family relations specialist, got into an argument with a student, Corey Ramos, in one of the classes," Bennett said, adding other students were also in the classroom but no one else was involved.
"The argument turned into a fight. Ramos pulled out a knife and stabbed Rev. Brown five to six times in the chest and stomach, and ran out of the room," the district attorney said.
Ramos was arrested by police about a half-mile from the school shortly after the 10:30 a.m. EST incident, and the knife was recovered in some woods behind the school, Bennett said. The suspect was being charged with murder.
Despite his wounds, Brown was able to walk out of the room and was helped to an ambulance, but was pronounced dead at the Baystate Medical Center.
Mayor Michael J. Albano reasserted that "this was not a planned action," but "an isolated incident. No planning went into it."
Parents were notified and students were dismissed, but the school will be open Thursday with grief counselors on hand to help students and teachers deal with the tragedy.
School Superintendent Joseph Burke said Ramos was a "very troubled young man" who did not have a history of violence at the school. Burke said the boy must have had a "tremendous amount of anger" to act out as he did.
