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A girl who was stabbed at South East High School in South Gate during her lunch break yesterday died from her wounds in the hospital last night.
Cindy Santana, 17, was fatally stabbed by her ex-boyfriend Abraham Lopez, 18, according to ABC 7. He is being held without bail on murder charges.
The brutal stabbing occurred during lunch break in full view of students and faculty. Witnesses told ABC 7 that Lopez, who weighs about 250 pounds, easily overpowered Santana. They say Lopez punched her and choked her before he pulled out a knife and began stabbing her. A varsity football player Jorge Garcia and a female dean were also injured trying to stop Lopez's attack.
Witness Deisy Nava told ABC 7 that she saw blood and saw a friend of Santana's holding her hand on the ground: "I feel bad for the family and for all the friends. She's gone but never forgotten. I didn't know her, but all my respects are to her. I wish that wouldn't have happened. I wish there was more security in our school."
The school was locked down for two hours yesterday, and some parents echoed Nava's sentiment. Marisol Aguirre, a volunteer and parent of a recent graduate, said that there used to be more staff around before layoffs.
"This school wasn't like this. They had more protection, more help," Aguirre told The Los Angeles Times.
"This is our bread and butter, the safety and security of our students," Los Angeles Unified School District police Chief Steve Zipperman told KCAL-TV. "It's difficult to understand if somebody gets stabbed, but then when we lose a student as a result of that, let's face it there isn't anything worse."
As if the day weren't traumatic enough for Santana's family, investigators received information that made them think that Lopez planted explosives in her family's car. The hospital was briefly locked down while a bomb squad searched the car and then they searched Santana's home, but they found nothing.
Lopez is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.
