16-year-old charged with fatally stabbing a fellow St. Paul Harding student after fight

A 16-year-old boy was charged Tuesday with murder in the stabbing death of a fellow student last week after a hallway fight in St. Paul Harding High.

The killing has forced a reexamination of security at the St. Paul district's largest schools by its administrators and city police.

Nosakhere K. Holmes was charged in Ramsey County District Court with second-degree unintentional murder in the death of Devin Denelle Edward Scott, a 15-year-old 10th grader, just before noon Friday.

It was Scott's first day at Harding after transferring from St. Paul Humboldt High School.

Holmes was charged by petition in juvenile court. The County Attorney's Office indicated it plans to have the teenager's case moved to adult court, where a conviction would likely bring a longer sentence.

District officials said Harding High School will remain closed Wednesday and Thursday as the school's community "continues to process the traumatic death." Classes are expected to resume Friday with a modified schedule and early release.

Holmes was arrested moments after the stabbing at the school in the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood, according to the charging document. A bloodied folding knife with a 4-inch blade reportedly was taken from his pants pocket while he was being held in the school office.

Scott was stabbed twice as he walked backward away from Holmes after school staff had broken up the fight, according to the court filing.

A security staffer said that just before Holmes was subdued, the teenager repeated, "They jumped me. They jumped me," the filing said.

"Our family is in mourning," Scott's mother, Eniesha Hammond, said Tuesday, "and we appreciate the community and everyone who is mourning for us."

Holmes appeared Tuesday afternoon via Zoom at a juvenile court hearing attended by his parents. His father, Ambakisye Holmes, fought back tears as he told Judge JaPaul Harris that he hopes his son is released home.

"My baby has never been away from me, his brothers or sisters," he said. "He's not a bad child at all."

The 16-year-old appeared from a juvenile detention room and expressed little emotion until the end of the hearing, using tissues to wipe tears away. Harris ordered Holmes held at the juvenile detention center until his next hearing March 15.

Holmes' attorney, Cara Gilbert, told the Star Tribune that "all kids deserve to feel safe at school." She said it's too early for her to comment on the details of the police reports and the complaint.

The charge against Holmes is based on school surveillance video and accounts given to police from an assistant principal who intervened during the fight and a staff member. However, the filing did not offer a possible motive for the killing.

"Too often, our young people resort to force and violence to resolve conflict, resulting in tragic loss for everyone involved," County Attorney John Choi said in a statement.

"We need to redouble our efforts to help youth, their families, and our community to address violence involving our young people."

St. Paul Public Schools cut ties with school resource officers, also known as SROs, in 2020 in the fallout from George Floyd's murder by Minneapolis police. They were replaced with 38 school liaisons who are not armed but carry pepper spray and handcuffs.

On Monday, the district announced short-term security changes for some of its largest high schools in partnership with police.
They include:

• A third full-time school support liaison will be added to Harding's existing security team.
• Two St. Paul police officers will be added on a short-term basis at Central, Como Park, Harding, Humboldt and Washington Technology Magnet high schools. The move was requested by Superintendent Joe Gothard, according to an email to district staff from Laura Olson, director of the office of security and emergency management.

At a news conference to discuss enhanced security Tuesday, Gothard said there is "no quick solution" to safety concerns across the district. But he said he's open to discuss adding school resource officers with new roles.

"It's my expectation and my desire to sit down with all of our partners, the Office of Neighborhood Safety, St. Paul Police Department, and see if we can redefine what a formal partnership looks like," Gothard said.

"So if that's SRO with a new name, or if that's some of what worked really well and some of the changes that all parties have agreed to, I'm willing to have that conversation."

Police officers will be stationed outside the five high schools for the rest of the week. In the meantime, Police Chief Axel Henry said, his department is working with the Office of Neighborhood Safety and the school district to create a partnership model to improve safety.

Henry offered no specifics about that model, but said it would likely involve the department's ASPIRE (A St. Paul Intervention & Recovery Effort) unit — a team that partners with the city and community organizations to help crime victims.

"The old model was a different environment then. … The current model, obviously, is something that we need to improve. So we're going to build that future model," Henry said.

"We will have assistance and we stand ready to help 24/7 as long as the school district needs it to create that time so we can have those conversations about creating what that new future looks like."

According to Tuesday's juvenile petition:

Scott and another student were walking in a hallway between classes when they encountered Holmes, who began "having words" with Scott.

The two started fighting, and the student with Scott tackled Holmes to the floor. As Holmes tried to rise, Scott and the other student punched him.

A school staff member grabbed Scott as an assistant principal pulled the other student away from Holmes.

But as Scott retreated, Holmes advanced toward him, swinging the knife at least twice. Scott was struck in the heart and the waist.

Two security staff members put Holmes to the floor in a brief struggle and handcuffed him.

A staff member escorted Scott to the nurse's office, where the teen said he was dizzy and collapsed. School staff started lifesaving measures before Fire Department medics took over and took him to Regions Hospital, where he soon died.

Asked whether Scott's death was the first slaying of a student on St. Paul's school grounds, district spokesman Ryan Stanzel said his office is "not aware of other incidents of this nature happening" in the district.

At Tuesday's news conference, Mayor Melvin Carter said the city is committed to ensuring something like this doesn't happen again.

"No parent should ever have to bury their child. That is one of the most horrific possibilities imaginable," Carter said. "We know that we have work to do to ensure that we're taking every step possible to ensure that we never have to endure this hardship, this trauma, ever again in our community."