The teen killed in a grisly caught-on-camera stabbing in a North Carolina school gymnasium has been identified by his loved ones as a sports-loving high school freshman — while relatives of the alleged perpetrator insist he acted in self-defense and was bullied.
Devlin J. Ferrell, 15, died from a stab wound sustained in the vicious Monday-morning brawl that spilled into the gym of Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School, his family confirmed to WRAL News.
Ferrell and an unnamed second victim, 16, were struck with a sharp object by a classmate, footage of the incident showed.
“We are a grieving family and trying to process this. It is a tragedy all around. We are a forgiving family and don’t hold any ill will,” Ferrell’s family said in a statement to WRAL.
The high school freshman enjoyed sports and video games, they added.
Friends and family will remember the teen at a balloon release near Raleigh at 5 p.m. local time Wednesday, WNCN reported.
The prime suspect in Ferrell’s death is 14-year-old Tyquan General Jr., the suspect’s family told WRAL.
The teen has been charged with murder under a juvenile petition — and will likely be tried as an adult under North Carolina law, the outlet explained.
General’s relatives, however, insist that he was simply defending himself after a long struggle with bullying.
“I informed the school earlier that something may happen. I informed them that morning. I told them something may happen, boys may threaten to jump him,” General’s mother, Cherelle McLaughlin, told WRAL of the tragedy.
Before the incident, General was scared of going to school, McLaughlin claimed.
“They didn’t get to him fast enough,” she lamented, referring to school officials.
McLaughlin also did not believe her young son brought the murder weapon to school himself.
“I don’t believe he took the knife into school. I believe he got the knife from somebody in the school because he did not go to school with a knife. I dropped him off at school, he did not go to school with it,” she told WRAL.
McLaughlin said the school failed both the victims and her son.
“I feel terrible. The whole situation is terrible. I feel bad for the other family, but in return, I feel bad for my son because he was fighting for his life. I just don’t think it should have happened like that,” she insisted.
The melee broke out after one student dressed in a dark jacket appeared to throw a punch at a student wearing a red jacket — though it is unclear who exactly these students were.
The Wake County Public School System did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on McLaughlin’s allegations.
Other parents, however, were quick to echo McLaughlin’s concerns about the school staff’s apparent failure to prevent the violence before it happened.
“With all the situations that have happened at Southeast Raleigh High School, I’m going to remove my daughter from the school,” one parent, who asked not to be named, told WRAL.
“Even from the video alone, it seemed like it took a long time for the administrator, teacher, adult to get there,” they added.
“I don’t feel safe sending my kid to school. No parents should have to send their kid to school and wonder if they are going to come back alive.”
Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School has much higher rates of criminal activity and arrests than other Wake County public schools, the outlet noted.
During the 2022-2023 school year, for example, Southeast Raleigh Magnet had 30.84 criminal acts per 1,000 students — compared to a rate of only 9.45 in Wake County overall and 8.77 in North Carolina.
On Wednesday, Raleigh was also host to a national conference on active threats in schools hosted by the School Safety Advocacy Council, WRAL added.
“Schools have to understand that any type of tragedy can hit every day. Everybody focuses on never wanting to be a Parkland or Uvalde school district with mass casualty victim count,” executive director Curt Lavarello told the outlet.
“The simplest way [to prevent school violence] is get to know your kids,”he continued.
“Talk to your kids because in most school shootings and serious incidents we’ve had in this country, a kid has talked about it before it’s happened, and there’s a real possibility of reducing those in the future.”
Southeast Raleigh Magnet was closed Tuesday and Wednesday in light of Ferrell’s death. It is unclear if the school will reopen on Thursday.