One Dead, Several Injured in Houston School Stabbing

Sept. 4, 2013— -- A school cafeteria fight turned deadly this morning at a high school in Houston where one student was stabbed to death and three others were injured, police said today.

Three persons of interest are in custody, police said.

The confrontation occurred around 8:10 a.m. EST at Spring High School in north Houston, according to the Harris County Sheriff's office. Police believe an argument escalated into a physical fight and a weapon was produced and used. Police have not recovered the weapon and described it only as a "cutting instrument."

Three individuals are hospitalized with injuries from the fight. Two of the students are stable while one is in surgery, Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia said at a news conference.

A 17-year-old male student was killed in the fight.

The Spring Independent School District's own police force was the first agency to respond to the fight about 60 seconds after it broke out, Garcia said.

Harris County Sheriffs officers arrived immediately after that.

"We have three persons of interest our investigators are interviewing at the moment," Garcia said. "There has been some information that this may have been gang related, but it's a very dynamic scene and investigators are collecting information. We'll work through that as we get it."

Police asked anyone with information about the fight or the whereabouts of the weapon to contact the sheriff's office.

Law enforcement and emergency personnel flooded the area around Spring High School shortly after the attack. One student posted a photo to her Twitter account showing what appears to be blood in the hallways of the high school, according to KRIV.

One student was seen being carried from the school in a stretcher to an ambulance shortly after 10 a.m. He was conscious and sitting up, and his injuries were not immediately clear.